Shadows Over the Sea
by Illoria
Summary: UPDATED.. & FINISHED! - The story of Jack's past, and his relationship with William 'Bootstrap' Turner. What happened over thirty years ago that Jack still wishes he could forget?
1. Prologue

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
Disclaimer: They're not mine... although I really wish that Jack was mine..! :D  
  
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Prologue  
  
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"Not all men seek rest and peace, some are born with the spirit of the storm in their blood, knowing no other path." - The Stalker of the Sands  
  
A man crept out of the captain's cabin on a very large ship, balancing four bottles of rum in his arms. A mischievous grin lit up his face as his brown eyes glinted gold as the moonlight caught them. He walked up to the helm and crept up in back of the man who was steering, and as soon as he was close enough, he said softly, "Boo."  
  
Gibbs jumped in spite of himself, and turned around. "Jaaack," he said with a laugh. "Why you be creepin' around at nigh', sneakin' up on me, ey?"  
  
Jack thrust a bottle of rum into Gibb's arms, and that said enough. "Take this to the crew."  
  
"Wha', ye don't be wantin' any?" Gibbs asked, but he hurriedly grabbed the other three bottles of rum from Jack's arms.  
  
Jack laughed heartily at the absurd notion of him not wanting any rum. "Of course I want some… er, or a bit more than some." Both of them laughed. "I'll be coming down."  
  
"Why dun ye just wait and bring it to 'em yerself?" the man asked. "Then they won' be drinkin' up all the rum ye would've liked for yerself." He winked.  
  
Jack folded his hands and said, "You see… that was why I was going back to my cabin to pick up two more bottles."  
  
Gibbs laughed. "Alrigh', then, I'll be seein' yeh in a little while, Jack," he said, and left to bring the rum to the rest of the crew.  
  
Jack grinned and went up to the bow and grasped the rail with both hands. After the sound of Gibbs' footsteps died away, the only sound was that of the ocean. The waves crashing against the sides of his ship. The gentle whisper of the sea spray. This was home.  
  
Jack took a deep breath of salty air, closed his eyes, and exhaled with a small smile upon his lips. "It's you and me, love," he crooned to the ocean below. The ship swayed ever so slightly. His smiled widened and he opened his eyes, and they seemed brighter than before.  
  
"A pirate's life for me," he sung softly, and he spun around and quickly made his way to his cabin, grabbed not two but three bottles of rum (just in case), and went to join the party.  
  
He kicked open the door to the dining room with a flourish, stepped inside and sung loudly, "Drink up me hearties –"  
  
"Yo ho!" the crew responded, lifting their rum glasses in the air.  
  
Jack took his seat next to Gibbs.  
  
"This is the life, ey?" Gibbs said with a slur in his voice as he took another large gulp of rum.  
  
"I raise my bottle to that, mate," Jack said, doing as he said and then taking a swig.  
  
**  
  
Morning. The light pierced Jack's eyelids and went straight to his brain, sending a shock through his head and making it feel as if it had split in half. "Hangover," he mumbled, rolling out of his bed. He stood and rubbed his eyes. After taking a moment to fully wake up, and dressing, he pushed open the door of his cabin and stepped outside.  
  
The crew was already busy doing their various jobs on the ship, rushing around, nodding to Jack as he passed them. He nodded back and smiled his quirky, mischievous little smile and kept walking.  
  
"Anamaria!" he called out as a black woman with shoulder-length coarse black hair walked by. She scowled slightly. "Great fun last night eh?" Jack said, taking a long stride closer to Anamaria and resting his elbow on her shoulder. He gestured to the ship with a sweeping motion and said, "And a wonderful morning on the sea… eh?"  
  
Anamaria had slipped out from under him and was now walking away. Jack shook his head and kept going.  
  
Jack stopped and threw his arms open as Gibbs came toward him. Gibbs slapped Jack on the back and smiled as he said, "Aye, we thought ye might not wake up all day."  
  
Jack shook his head and folded his hands. "Now that… that is where you have me wrong, Gibbs. You see, no matter how many bottles of rum I drink in a night…" He gestured with one hand to the ocean. "…I'll never let my lady down."  
  
Gibbs laughed and nodded. "So… I guess we'll be settin' off today?" he asked hopefully.   
  
Jack paused, then said, "I suppose so, Mr. Gibbs!"  
  
Gibbs grinned widely. "Ye be wantin' me to steer?"  
  
"No, no," Jack said. "I'll be steering today."  
  
Gibbs nodded. "Alrigh', then, Jack!" he said. Another crew member called him over and off he went.  
  
Jack sauntered back up to the helm and placed his hands gently on the wheel. He started humming as he looked out to sea, turning the wheel slightly this way and that.  
  
  
  
It was when he was here, by himself for most of the day steering his ship, that he remembered things. Some of them were well worth remembering, good nights in bars with good mates and good rum; dinners with his crew; so many other times, and all the other days spent at the wheel, the only place where he felt he completely belonged.  
  
But occasionally, the salty air that rushed over him would bring him something other than the good memories. It would bring him long nights spent alone, red-hot memories of anger. He had gotten his revenge on the blackhearted Barbossa, but the sting had never completely gone away. He had reclaimed his place as Captain of the Black Pearl – but his beloved ship sometimes creaked in just the right way to remind him of mutiny.  
  
Then there were those memories that he preferred to kept hidden, buried away somewhere deep inside him. William Turner. Memories of him were bittersweet. They would've been among the good memories if Bootstraps' fate hadn't ruined it all. Jack sighed softly, and as he breathed in the smell of the ocean reassured him. He leaned back slightly, contented. A feeling of peace washed over him as the sea rocked the ship back and forth, as a mother rocks a baby back and forth in his crib. Jack smiled.  
  
His hands continued to dance across the wheel, and his mind wandered into the past. 


	2. Lost

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, nope... they're still not mine ;)  
  
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Chapter One  
  
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He was running through the streets, alert and afraid. The world was a blur of color, a patchwork of sounds. The tears streaked down his dirty face as he yelled out for his mother.  
  
He didn't know where his mother was. All he remembered was the sound of breaking glass, his mother's scream, and then his head felt like it had exploded in pain. There was a man's voice, and then nothing – an empty black space. He'd awoken only a few moments ago in an alleyway, and he was still dizzy and disoriented, but he had to find her…  
  
The street was empty save for him. He recognized sounds coming from the market, and he knew where he was as soon as he emerged into the open square. People rushed around doing their daily business just as usual, buying from the vendors, getting into the occasional argument over the prices. He spotted a man stealing two apples from a cart.  
  
What was going on? Didn't these people know what had happened to him? Shouldn't they be afraid?!  
  
He stepped into the market square, looking around dazedly. Everything looked normal here. Had it been a dream? No, of course not. It was so real, and he'd woken up in the middle of a street he'd never been on before. Nobody knew what had happened, but he had to get help!  
  
He tugged on the pants leg of a man passing by. "Sir, can you –" He was cut off by a gruff voice mumbling something. He looked up at a lady and pleaded, "Ma'am, I'm lost and –" She didn't notice him.  
  
The tears came again at the thought of his mother. He didn't remember the face of the man whose voice he'd heard back there, just before he'd blacked out. His head pounded and still felt as if it were going to explode at any second.  
  
He kept walking through the marketplace but no one would listen to him. Eventually he started running around, asking everyone he saw for help, but they either didn't notice him or just didn't care.  
  
He was suddenly overcome by a rush of sadness. He felt empty and alone, something he'd never felt before. Could his mother be gone, and there was nothing he could do about it? But if his mother was gone, then… he was completely alone.  
  
Suddenly he bumped into something. He made eye contact with the tops of a pair of high, worn brown leather boots. His eyes traveled upward; grey-blue pants tucked into the boots, a very old looking belt, a shirt that looked like it's once been very nice but now needed a washing, a coat only a shade darker than the pants.  
  
The man he'd just bumped into bent down so they were eye-level with each other. The man had kind-looking brown eyes which sharply contrasted with his overall worn look.  
  
"I'm William Turner," the man said. His voice was rough, but it had a tinge of concern in it. "What's your name, son?"  
  
His mouth fumbled for words. "J-Jack, sir," he said quietly. "Jack Sparrow."  
  
**  
  
Jack told William what had happened, and they'd gone back to where it had happened – the tiny apartment where Jack and his mother lived – to see if they could find anything out. It was fruitless. William took Jack all around Tortuga searching, but they found nothing.  
  
Night was falling, and Jack felt worse than he'd ever felt. He felt hardly able to stand up. He was shaking and still trying not to cry.  
  
He heard William sigh deeply from in back of him, but Jack didn't turn around.   
  
"I… I'm sorry," William murmured.  
  
Jack turned around, blinked back tears and looked up into William's face. "No reason to be. Not your fault," he stumbled.  
  
No one spoke for a moment. In the brief silence, the truth took its time seeping into the six-year-old boy. His mother was gone. She'd been kidnapped or… or killed. Jack shuddered. He couldn't hold the tears any longer; they trailed down his face without a sound.  
  
"Listen, Jack, it's not safe to be out here at night in Tortuga," William said suddenly. "Tell you what – come back with me to my ship for the night."  
  
Jack shook his head. "How do I know… How do I know that I can trust you?" he said in a small voice.  
  
"Well I s'pose there's no way I can convince you," William said.  
  
Jack looked up into William's eyes and saw that they too were wet with tears. The man's eyes were honest and Jack was exhausted. He let William lead him to his ship. He struggled to keep his eyes open as they arrived at the ports, the world dark by then, and boarded a ship. William eventually lifted the little boy up and carried him.  
  
**  
  
When Jack woke up in the morning, he honestly thought he was at home like he'd been every morning of his life. He thought he would get up and look for his mother – sometimes she'd be there, sometimes not, depended on whether or not she was done with the job she did at night. If she was there he would rush into her arms and kiss her soft cheek. If she wasn't, he'd sit at the kitchen table and wait patiently, it was never long before she got home.  
  
Then the ship rocked and he was jolted awake, and all the events of the previous day rushed back to him. He pulled the covers back over his head. Maybe if he went back to sleep… maybe this was just a dream, and then he'd wake up where he was supposed to be. Home, with his mother.  
  
But voices around him made him realize finally that he wasn't in a dream. They were arguing, he realized. About him.  
  
"We can't have a kid on board, Bootstraps."  
  
"Just until we find a place for him. He doesn't have anywhere to go." Jack recognized William's voice and poked his head out from under the covers. His dark eyes fell on William and he was reassured just a little that he wasn't completely alone.  
  
William looked over to realize that Jack was awake. "We'll discuss this later," he said to the man he was arguing with. He walked over to Jack and said, "Mornin'! Good night's sleep?"  
  
Jack shook his head. "Not really."  
  
William's smile faded. "Eh, understandable," he muttered. "Listen Jack, you're gonna stay on board here for now." The man he'd been arguing with scowled slightly. "So get up, we'll have ourselves some breakfast, and I'll show y'around. How's that?"  
  
Jack nodded, pulled the covers off, and jumped out of bed. He followed William to the galley, where many men sat around a square table. A fancy chair sat at the far end of the table, cushioned in what looked like velvet, deep red with gold trim around the edges.  
  
"That's where Captain Riley sits," William explained when he saw Jack eyeing the captain's chair. Jack nodded.  
  
William took a seat in one of the few remaining empty chairs, and Jack sat next to him. Some of the crew members cast suspicious looks in Jack's direction. He felt like hiding.  
  
Suddenly, a very tall man wearing an ornate red coat stepped into the room. The room was silenced. The man walked briskly to the head of the table, and Jack realized he must be the Captain that William had told him about. Once the Captain was seated, his eyes fell immediately on Jack.  
  
"Bootstraps," he said. His voice wasn't as rough as William's, but it wasn't as kind, either. "Who's the kid?"  
  
William stood and said, "Captain, his name is Jack Sparrow. He lost his mother just yesterday, and he doesn't have any place to go. I ask permission for him to stay aboard until we find him a place."  
  
"No word of what happened to his mother?"  
  
"No, Captain," William said. "I helped him search all yesterday."  
  
"So that's where you were," the Captain mumbled. "This ship is no place for a child, Turner. He can't stay."  
  
"Please, Captain," William persisted. "He doesn't have anywhere at all to go."  
  
Jack's eyes darted back and forth from William to the Captain. He felt sort of like he wasn't really there in the room, like he was watching this happen to someone else.  
  
The Captain sighed. "He can stay 'til we set sail," he said. "After that he has to go."  
  
"Thank you, Captain," William said, relief evident in his voice.  
  
"Keep the child with you at all times, Bootstraps," the Captain said. "We don't need him runnin' 'round the ship. Savvy?"  
  
William nodded. "Yes, Captain."  
  
The Captain sat down, and so did William, who smiled at Jack. Jack smiled back.  
  
**  
  
"See this is the helm," William explained as he led Jack to the front of the ship and to the wheel. "That there's the bow," he added, pointing to the very front, where a flag protruded; black with a skull and crossbones.  
  
Jack walked closer to the bow and looked at the flag. "I've seen that before," he said. "In a storybook. About pi…rates…" He trailed off as he looked back at William, back at the flag. "You're…?"  
  
William nodded. He pulled back his sleeve to reveal a P branded on the back of his right wrist. "Pirates, we are."  
  
Jack looked up at him, wide-mouthed. For a moment he forgot everything as he exclaimed, "Pirates! I've heard all about pirates. My mom told me all sorts of stories. She worked for pirates, you know."  
  
William looked perplexed for just a second, then realized what Jack's mother had really done for a job. Suddenly some things came together.  
  
"Oh, yeah?" William said somewhat distractedly. "You… you ever seen pirates before son?"  
  
"Well I've seen some people I thought were pirates around town all the time," Jack said. "But I've never met one before…" He looked up at William. "D'you have treasure?"  
  
William chuckled softly. "Every pirate has treasure, son," he said. "But not all treasure is silver and gold."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Just, the real treasure," William said, "is this here." He gestured to the ship.  
  
"The ship?"  
  
William nodded. "The ship, the sea… That, son, is what bein' a pirate is about. Sure, there's gold. But it doesn't compare to the freedom of the sea."  
  
**  
  
It went on like this for five days; William taking Jack wherever he went, around the ship, in town. Then one evening, they arrived back on board and the Captain approached William. He took him aside and William told Jack they'd only be a minute.  
  
Jack nodded. Once William and the Captain had moved aside, Jack walked quietly up to the helm. Ever since William had shown him this on the first day he'd been on the ship, he'd been fascinated. He wanted to be on the ship when it sailed, to feel what it would be like to steer. Secretly he wanted to sail away from Tortuga, away from the house he'd lived in where his mother had hugged him in the mornings…  
  
She was gone now, and he knew it. The first couple of days, he'd thought maybe his mother was still out there. Maybe she would come looking for him. But the night of his second day on the ship, he'd heard William and another crew member talking. He was supposed to be asleep, but he couldn't help but listen.  
  
"Is the kid leaving soon?" the crew member had said crossly.  
  
"Come on, Taylor," William had said. "Go easy on him. His mother is dead."  
  
The words had hit Jack dead-on. He hadn't slept that night at all save for an hour or two, and when he'd woken up something was different. The hope was gone.  
  
Jack was brought back to the present by the sound of William's boots behind him. William placed a hand on the small boy's shoulder and said, "Jack. Come here."  
  
William knelt down and Jack climbed up into his lap. "Jack, I'm afraid you can't…" He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No Jack, I can't do this to you. Captain Riley says that you have to leave, we're setting sail tomorrow. But I can't leave you here."  
  
Jack looked at William, scared. "But…"  
  
"Shh, it'll be okay," William reassured the boy. "I'll straighten things out and you won't have to be alone."  
  
Jack nodded. He trusted William, but he was still afraid.  
  
It showed in his eyes. William said, "Hey, how about I teach you a song? It'll cheer you up."  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
"Starts like this." And William started singing.  
  
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Maraud and embezzle and even hijack.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
We kindle and char, inflame and ignite.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
We burn up the city, we're really a fright.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
We're rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs!  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
We're beggars and blighters and ne'er-do-well cads.  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Aye! But we're loved by our mommies and dads!  
  
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.  
  
William sung the song until Jack knew enough of the words to sing along. The little boy was laughing by the end, and William was smiling. He lifted Jack up and set him down in front of the wheel. "I'll figure something out, don' worry."  
  
**  
  
Jack must've fallen asleep, because next thing he knew, he woke up in his bunk and it was morning.  
  
He was getting used to being on the ship. The first day he felt kind of seasick and he had trouble walking around, but he'd gotten over it quickly and now, he'd really gotten to like being on the ship. He loved the smell of the ocean and at night, he loved falling asleep to the sound of the waves lapping against the side of the ship.  
  
Fully awake, Jack climbed out of bed. He was nervous; today was the day he was supposed to leave the ship. The Captain had said they'd be setting sail, and Jack couldn't come.  
  
He slowly made his way to the upper deck, afraid of what he'd be told there. William was there waiting for him.  
  
"William?" he asked walking up to the man.  
  
"Jack," William said, kneeling down so that he was eye-level with the little boy. "We're setting sail today and Captain Riley says that you can't come on the voyage; it'll be too dangerous for you anyway. You have to stay in Tortuga. I'll bring you to the orphanage."  
  
Jack's eyes widened, and his heart fell. "But…"  
  
"But I'll be back," William added. "I'm not sure when, but I won't let you stay in that orphanage. Believe me, Jack. We'll be coming back to Tortuga anyway."  
  
Jack nodded, a lump forming in his throat. "Promise?"  
  
"I promise, son," William said. He stood and ruffled Jack's coarse black hair.  
  
Jack didn't say anything as William led him off of the ship. He felt as if he was being torn away; he didn't want to leave. Stepping on land after being aboard the ship for five days felt very strange; stranger even than the feeling of stepping on a ship after never having been aboard one before.  
  
Jack still didn't say anything as William led him through Tortuga, down streets and through squares, until they reached a medium-sized building with a sign on the front that told them they'd arrived where they'd intended to arrive… the orphanage.  
  
William sighed heavily. "Jack, I hate leaving you here," he mumbled. "But really, the Captain's right in a way. I s'pose a ship's no place for a little boy."  
  
"No!" Jack protested loudly. "I really liked being on the ship. And I really don't want to be here." He gestured to the towering orphanage building.  
  
"I'll be back," William promised again. "Count on it, Jack."  
  
"Soon?"  
  
"I can't say. I'm not gonna lie to ya – it could be a year –"  
  
"No!" Jack protested again.  
  
"You can do this, Jack," William said. "And I might be back sooner but – don't get your hopes up, 'cause I might not."  
  
Jack opened his mouth, but clamped it shut and looked down at the ground instead of speaking.  
  
"Come on," William said. He opened the door and held it while Jack walked inside.  
  
The ground was covered in a dark red carpet, and the walls were dark wood. There was only one window, and it was dirty. Jack and William walked up to a desk on the other side of a room, where a woman sat. She was writing on a piece of parchment with a fancy quill, and she looked up only when Jack and William were right in front of the desk.  
  
"Yes?" she said.  
  
William explained the situation to the woman, and she nodded. She went up a flight of stairs, and a nun came down with her. Jack had never met a nun before, but he'd seen a couple.  
  
The nun looked down at Jack, and rather suspiciously at William. "Jack Sparrow?" she said after a brief pause. Her voice was rather shrill, and it made Jack cringe a bit; her words well-pronounced.  
  
William hesitated, but put his arms around Jack. "See you soon," William whispered to the boy. Jack nodded.  
  
The nun came closer to Jack as William retreated. "I suppose it is settled then."  
  
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Review review review! Worth continuing? Worth trashing? =O Revieeeeeeew! :D 


	3. Reunions

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: Reviews? Por moi? *wipe tear* hehe :D No really, thank you so much to the reviewers so far: caution1, Alicondria, Felicity Sparrow :D Looks like Shadows will definitely be continued =D thank you!  
  
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Chapter Two  
  
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Jack was led up the flight of stairs, where he found a hallway and several doors. The nun pointed out each one to him, explaining what was on the other side of each. At the end of the hallway, she opened a door to reveal a bedroom. Six bunk beds lined all four walls, and the middle of the room was empty.  
  
"This is where you'll be sleeping," the nun said.  
  
Jack hadn't been paying much attention to anything the nun said. His mind kept wandering back to the ship. William would be getting back now, and then they would be setting sail to someplace far away from here…  
  
"…Be expected to work hard while you are here," the nun's high pitch snapped Jack back to reality. "The other boys will be back shortly; Sister Isabel took them out for a walk. You may wait in here, and I'll be back up shortly."  
  
Jack nodded, and the nun left, leaving the door open behind her. Jack walked over to one of the bunk beds, and flopped down on it. The mattress was hard and uncomfortable, but he hadn't gotten much sleep last night at all. He felt himself drifting off…  
  
**  
  
"Hey, that's my bed!"  
  
A voice roused Jack from his sleep. "H-huh…"  
  
"Get out! That's my bed!"  
  
Jack opened his eyes. A tall boy stood in front of him, looking pretty angry. Jack jumped out of the bed. "Sorry," he mumbled as the boy shoved past him.  
  
He looked around the room and saw that every bunk bed was already claimed. Where was he supposed to sleep?  
  
"Hey!" he called out. He didn't want to be in that orphanage at all, and this boy trying to pick a fight with him was just annoying him even more.  
  
One boy turned around, but the rest ignored him. "Hey," the boy said. "Name's Chris. What's yours?"  
  
"Jack," he said. "Listen, I-"  
  
"Hey, guys!" Chris called out. The other boys turned around at his voice. "This here's Jack."  
  
The boys grumbled various greetings in Jack's direction. He nodded to them and waved in response.  
  
"That there's Robin," Chris began, pointing to a red-haired boy. "That's Tom. And over there, that's Daniel. And Mick, and Philip…"  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
"So, how'd you end up here?" Chris asked.  
  
Jack sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it," he said.  
  
Chris nodded. "Hm, okay then," he said. "You're little, aren't ya? How old are ya?"  
  
"Six," Jack said.  
  
"Hm, no older than Daniel," Chris conceded. Jack nodded; he didn't really know what else to do.  
  
Neither of them talked for a bit, but the silence was broken with the nun from before came into the room. "Lights out!" her voice rang throughout the room. The boys climbed into their beds, but Jack was left standing in the middle of the room.  
  
"Where am I supposed to –" he started to ask, but the nun said to him, "I said, lights out!"  
  
"But I-" Jack started. But she was already gone.  
  
With a heavy heart, he curled up into a ball in the empty middle of the room. The floor was cold and hard, but he was so tired…  
  
**************  
  
Captain Jack Sparrow was pretty tired now. He'd stayed at the wheel the entire day. He felt odd as he realized where he was; aboard the Black Pearl, his beloved ship, at the wheel, on the ocean. They were far from Tortuga, but his mind was still in Tortuga as it was thirty-five years ago. He sighed sadly.  
  
"I need some rum," he mumbled.  
  
Jack called out to Gibbs to take over steering and stumbled to his cabin. Gibbs nodded and left the captain to enter his cabin and close the door behind him. Once inside, Jack fell down on his bed, relieved to feel the softness beneath him. He sat up and reached for a bottle of rum, and poured himself a mug full. He gulped it down quickly, but only felt moderately better.  
  
"Now that's odd," Jack mumbled as he poured himself another mug.  
  
For some reason, the memories had caught up with him today.  
  
Maybe because it'd been exactly thirty-five years ago when his mother had died…  
  
Jack grumbled something under his breath and took a long swig of rum. He was the son of a whore in Tortuga who had been killed when he was but six years old; too young to realize that his mother was a prostitute. He'd come to know this at the orphanage; where he hadn't stayed at for one year, nor two - he'd been at the orphanage in Tortuga for four years.  
  
*******  
  
"So, what happened to your family?"  
  
Chris was the only boy in the orphanage who would talk to Jack (the others wouldn't do so much as look at him). And although nine-year-old Jack really didn't want to discuss his origins, he figured he might as well tell the older boy... to keep him from asking again, if nothing else.  
  
"My mother died," Jack mumbled and went about making his bed.  
  
Well, it certainly did shut Chris up. "Oh," was all he could say. Then, "I'm... sorry."  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
But, it'd only shut him up for a moment. "So, what about your dad?" Chris continued.  
  
"Don't have one," Jack said simply.  
  
Chris looked perplexed. "Don't have a dad? You mean... he left your mom?"  
  
Jack shook his head. "I never had one."  
  
"You mean, your mom was never married?"  
  
"Guess not," Jack said.  
  
"So she was a... a whore?"  
  
"What?!" Jack turned on the older boy immediately.  
  
"She was a whore. Your mother."  
  
"No!" Jack yelled, and before he knew it his fist was raised. And then, his fist abruptly made contact with the older boy's face, who stared back at Jack with what would certainly turn into a black eye.  
  
"You want to start something?" Chris said.  
  
Jack shook his head. "My mother was not a whore."  
  
The punch did shut Chris up, but that meant that there wasn't a single boy in the orphanage who would talk to Jack. He was alone.  
  
********  
  
Captain Jack Sparrow shook his head and put a hand to his temple. He was getting what promised to be a nasty headache. He was also on his fourth mug of rum.  
  
"Calm, Jack," he muttered to himself. "There ain' nothing good ole' rum can't solve, eh?" He took another gulp.  
  
********  
  
The years passed. Ten-year-old Jack was still a boy in many ways, but he was tougher and less innocent than most boys. Four years in an orphanage in Tortuga had taught him to be street smart, and to always be on his guard. He'd been smaller than the other boys and younger than most of them, and they hadn't liked him one bit. He'd had to be alert and fend for himself, otherwise the older boys would try to take advantage of him.  
  
William had visited Jack in the orphanage whenever the ship docked in Tortuga (quite frequently), but for all those four years he still couldn't take Jack with him on the ship. But then, one morning when Jack was ten, everything changed.  
  
He'd been woken up by one of the nuns. "W...wha?" he remembered stumbling sleepily. It was quite a bit earlier than he usually got up.  
  
"There's someone here for you," the nun had whispered, so as not to wake the other boys.  
  
Jack got out of bed in something of a daze, but he'd woken up the moment he saw William Turner waiting for him downstairs. "William?" he said in awe. "... What's going on?"  
  
William was grinning. He spread his arms out and said, "Jack, you're coming with me!"  
  
The words hit Jack right on, and he felt the happiest he remembered feeling in a very long time. "Are you serious?!" he exclaimed.  
  
William nodded. "I've joined the crew of a new ship, a real beauty too. I talked to the Captain, and you're comin' with me on his ship!"  
  
Jack didn't know what to say. He stumbled for words as he walked over to William, grasping the situation. William , and Jack was going with him. He'd finally be able to sail away from Tortuga.  
  
Those few moments seemed to play in joyful slow-motion, but it was a blur what happened next – papers and signatures saying he could leave the orphanage, William escorting him outside and down the streets of Tortuga, to the ports. That was when he saw it.  
  
It was beautiful, William's ship. Tall masts and white sails. Its name was the Voyager. Jack could see the complete pride in William's eyes as they came closer to it, and when they finally stepped aboard… Jack felt like he was back home.  
  
Though Jack hadn't been on board a ship in four years, he felt at place on board, natural. He was so overjoyed that he'd be staying on the Voyager, with William, that he could finally sail away from the town he'd been trapped in. All of the things he'd been dreaming about during his time spent at the orphanage, it could finally come true, he'd thought.  
  
The first night on board the Voyager, in the galley, Jack sat next to William. William introduced him to the Captain, and the entire crew, who welcomed him (apparently, William had told them all about Jack).  
  
It went on to become all the things that Jack had been dreaming about. William taught Jack all about the ship and its workings, the jobs of the crew members, everything – and Jack loved it. He loved being on the Voyager, sailing over the open sea.  
  
The Voyager was Jack Sparrow's first taste of freedom, and once he'd tasted it, he couldn't ever give it up.  
  
A/N: Keep the reviews coming, heheh :p No, you don't HAVE to review... but it would be very very much appreciated it you did =) 


	4. The Voyager

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: Thank you SO INCREDIBLY MUCH for all the reviews. I feel so loved *^^* Some people have been asking about the age difference between Jack and William - in this story, William is 20 years older than Jack, so at their first meeting, William is 26. :) I dunno, I always pictured William being that much older than Jack, like a father figure. :} Anywho, tons and tons of thanks for all the reviews. I've never gotten this many reviews within, like, 2 days! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU =D Drinks all around! lol. :} Now, on with the story!  
  
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Chapter Three  
  
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Days passed on the Voyager. Jack ran around happily doing whatever jobs around the ship he was told to do; most commonly it was nothing more than swabbing the deck and such, but Jack didn't care. He didn't care what he was doing on the ship, as long as he was there.  
  
One of his favorite things was having dinner with the crew every night. The crew was rowdy, but still kind towards Jack, and truthfully he loved the chaotic atmosphere of those dinners. Bottles of rum were always passed around, and each crew member filled his glass several times over. Jack grudgingly accepted when he was given a different drink, too young to have a sip of rum.  
  
Sometimes, William would try to get the crew to sing the same song that he'd taught Jack four years ago. Jack still remembered the whole thing. Apparently, the crew didn't like the song very much; they'd start groaning when William brought it up. Jack would sing along, though. "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me..."  
  
Days turned into weeks, which in turn turned to months. Soon, it'd been six months since Jack had last set foot in his hometown. The ship had docked in Tortuga a couple of times for supplies, but Jack hadn't gotten off of the ship. He was thoroughly enjoying his life as it was, and he didn't want to go back.  
  
When the pirates went out to pillage, plunder, and do whatever else they were going to do to bring some gold back onto the ship, Jack wasn't supposed to go with them. "When you're older, boy," he was told by the crew members. He'd roll his eyes and remain on board.  
  
When Jack was twelve, and he'd been on the Voyager for two years, he was finally allowed to disembark on one of the many islands or towns to which the pirate crew was setting out to retrieve treasures from. Usually, he was made to stand guard and make sure that no one got suspicious, or discovered the crew's intentions. He thought he did a good job, because, well, none of the crew was caught.  
  
By the time Jack was fourteen, he knew the ship better than he knew most anything (or anyone) else. William and the other crew members had taught him all the technicalities, terms, and basically everything else a pirate needed to know about his ship.  
  
Also, by the time Jack was fourteen, he was no longer anything close to being the smaller-than-average, kind of scrawny child he'd been. Not only had he hit his growth spurt by then, he was also muscular from all his labor on the Voyager, and tanned from the countless hours he'd spent out in the sun. With his dark hair falling down to just above his neck, he had actually become quite a good-looking teenager.  
  
But, it was when Jack was fourteen that the most horrible thing that could possibly happen… well, happened.  
  
*********  
  
"OUT OF RUM?!"  
  
Captain Sparrow slammed his empty mug down on his counter, and his eyes frantically darted around to the many equally empty bottles scattered about.  
  
A knock came on the door.  
  
"What is it?" Jack yelled, his voice slurred.  
  
"Gibbs, Cap'n," came the voice from the other side of the door. "Heard ys yellin'... Everythin' alright?"  
  
Jack groaned, got up off his bed, and yanked the door open. "Happy?" he asked, presenting himself to his first-mate.  
  
"What was all the yellin' about?" Gibbs asked.  
  
Jack sighed and put a hand to his head. He turned around and gestured wildly toward the empty rum bottles. "Out of rum," he grumbled.  
  
"Out of rum?!" Gibbs echoed.  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
"How many bottles have you drunk…?" Gibbs said in awe as he counted the empty bottles.  
  
Jack shrugged, a sheepish grin upon his face. He suddenly felt dizzy, and so tired… He felt his eyes starting to close…  
  
"Well. Looks like we'll be stoppin' in Tortuga, eh?"  
  
Gibbs' words shook Jack from his drunken daze, and his eyes snapped open. "Tortuga?"  
  
Gibbs nodded, looking very perplexed. "Jack, are ya sure yer okay? I mean, I just mentioned Tortuga and you-"  
  
Jack thrust his hands out and waved them in the air, struggling for words, for a quick explanation. "You see… I… Tortuga is too far out of the way." There, that was it. He was too drunk to remember exactly where they were, but that explanation would do. "We'll just pick up supplies next town we see. Savvy?"  
  
Gibbs nodded, but still looked confused. He shook his head and started to turn around to leave Jack's cabin. "Aye, whatever ye say, Cap'n. But I've never heard of Captain Jack Sparrow objecting to a visit to Tortuga."  
  
Gibbs opened the cabin door and left. Jack sighed and fell back down onto his bed. Tiredness washed over him again, and he fell asleep.  
  
**  
  
Jack woke in the morning, and the first thing his eyes landed on was the empty bottles of rum littering his counter. He groaned as soon as he'd counted the bottles, knowing he was about to experience possibly the worst hangover of his life. And he didn't even have any rum left to get rid of the headache!  
  
In a very bad mood, Jack stepped out of bed and didn't move any further until his cabin stopped spinning around. He dressed, took a deep breath, and stepped out onto the deck.  
  
Just as he'd known it would, the sunlight made his head feel as if it's split in half. He had to close his eyes for a moment, and it helped, but the feeling of his brain exploding returned as soon as they'd opened again. Seeing as though he couldn't steer with his eyes closed, he'd have to put up with it.  
  
Anamaria walked by, and Jack stopped her. "What's the nearest town?" he asked abruptly.  
  
Anamaria had a shocked look on her face for just a moment – Jack Sparrow, talking to a woman without hitting on her? Now that was odd… But, she said, "We're comin' up on one now." She pointed to an island with what looked like a small town on it, not far away. "We should get there by late afternoon."  
  
Jack nodded. "Thank you, Anamaria," he said, folding his hands together. She nodded back and walked away.  
  
Jack walked up to the helm, where Gibbs was steering. "Mind if I take over, mate?" he asked. Gibbs turned around and smiled. "All yours, Cap'n."  
  
"Many thanks," Jack said, as he put his hands on the wheel. He would've sworn that the feeling of the fine oak wood beneath his hands relieved his headache more than a little, as did the swaying of the ship throughout the day. As Anamaria had predicted, they reached a small town by late afternoon. Jack gave the crew permission to disembark, giving a list of the supplies they needed, and telling them to be back on board by noon the next day at the latest.  
  
Jack was the last to leave the ship. He walked through the mostly empty streets of the town, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be suspicious of his appearance. No one bothered him, and he came upon a tavern and stepped inside. It was too early for most of the pub-goers to be out, and there were only a few others in the tavern other than Jack.  
  
He sat down at a table in the corner. Even sooner than he'd thought, one of the pretty barmaids was practically on top of him – she leaned over him so that her dress revealed more than what would've normally been considered appropriate. "A drink, sir?" she asked.  
  
Jack, remarkably, shook his head. "Not right now, love," he said.  
  
The barmaid paused, then leaned even closer to him and said in a seductive tone, "Some company, sir?"  
  
Jack sighed, shook his head, and said again, in a more dejected tone than before, "Not right now, love."  
  
The barmaid snapped up, looking thoroughly offended. "Well then," she huffed, walking away.  
  
"Snap out of it, Jack!" he grumbled to himself as he cradled his head in his hands on the table. First he'd turned down alcohol, which was remarkable in itself, but then he'd just gone over the top and turned down a woman!  
  
Either he'd finally gone over the edge, or he was thoroughly depressed because of the time period his mind was currently stuck in. When he was fourteen, the Voyager had been attacked by an enemy pirate ship. Jack had been shoved into the brig, helpless, hearing nothing but the sounds of cannons as first – he'd had to dodge a bullet as it rammed a hole in the brig – and then he'd heard the sound of swords clanging and heavy footsteps from on deck. He'd tried to get up there, but he was locked in…  
  
********  
  
"LET… ME… OUT!" Jack yelled, ramming his shoulder against the locked door between words. Each attempt, however, sent him flying backward, the door still as locked as it'd been before.  
  
And then, after what must've been hours of pacing around in the brig trying to figure out what to do, he'd tried to ram into the door one more time – the door opened, and he tumbled out onto the deck.  
  
He landed at William's feet. Quickly picking himself up, Jack looked around the ship, seeing some of the crew members – his friends – lying on the deck, motionless. But he had no time to say, or do, anything – William grabbed a hold of him and dragged him to the edge of the ship, where a rowboat was waiting.  
  
Jack, William, and about six other crew members climbed into the boat and soon they were rowing into shore. Jack's eyes darted around, confused. He looked at William, whose face was etched with pain. Looking down, he saw that William's arm was cut badly.  
  
"William, are you-"  
  
"Fine, Jack," William said quickly.  
  
"What's going-"  
  
"She's sinking," William said softly.  
  
Jack didn't say anything else, because he was pretty much in shock. He rowed mechanically with the other crew members, and didn't look back until they'd reached the shore of an island.  
  
Sadness swept over him as he saw her, the majestic Voyager, sinking into the ocean. One side was falling fast, the other side hanging on. He could see several large holes blasted into the side of the ship. She sunk fairly quickly, and the remaining members of the crew all stared out to sea even after she'd long been under.  
  
Jack saw William tear himself away and sit down on the beach, away from the remaining members of the crew. Jack realized that in all the chaos, he hadn't even stopped to see which crew members were left. His heart fell as he realized that some of his best friends had gone under with the ship. And of course, the Captain had gone down with his ship. Jack hadn't known the Captain all that well, but he had always been grateful to him for letting him aboard the Voyager.  
  
Gradually, the crew broke up and sat each on their own on the beach. Jack hesitated, but went over to sit next to William. He had walked over there with every intention to speak, but as soon as he'd sat down and seen the look on William's face, the look of utter loss, he'd abruptly trashed his idea, and was silent.  
  
Night fell on the island, and the crew figured they ought to go into town and get something to eat. They told William to come along, but he refused. Then they motioned for Jack to follow them – he hesitated, but realized that William might want to be alone, and followed.  
  
There was a small village on the island, and the crew went into a tavern. They kept a close eye on Jack, even though the pub was almost empty anyway. Usually Jack resented the crew's habit of doting on him like he was a child, but tonight he was obviously preoccupied.  
  
The crew ordered drinks and requested, as always, something non-alcoholic for Jack. When the drinks arrived, none of them took more than a few sips, and no one spoke. It wasn't an awkward silence – it was sad. They'd lost their ship, their shipmates, their Captain.  
  
After a while, they left the tavern, flicking coins onto the counter, and went back to the beach for William. He was still sitting in the same place they'd left him.  
  
"Hey, Bootstraps," Thomas, one of the crew members, called to William. "I s'pose we'll be staying at an inn tonight?"  
  
William nodded and waved his hands. Thomas paused, and said awkwardly, "Ye be coming?"  
  
William nodded again, but made no move to get up. "I'll go get a room," Thomas said softly to the crew. "I'll be back." He left.  
  
The crew members sat down around William. Jack was staring out to sea, at the place where the Voyager had sunk but a few hours ago. It was remarkable to Jack that just that morning, he'd been swabbing the deck on board. And now, she was on the ocean floor, never to set sail again.  
  
Jack squeezed his eyes shut, trying to rid his mind of the horrible image of the Voyager on the sea bottom. He replaced the images with images of the Voyager above the sea instead of below it, her majestic sails, the sea-worn wooden mermaid suspended on the bow.  
  
Soon, Tom came back and told the pirates he'd gotten them a room in an inn in town. All of them stood, William last, and made their way down the dark streets. They came to a building and went inside and into their respective rooms, but none of them could sleep without the ocean beneath them.  
  
**********  
  
As bad luck would have it, Captain Sparrow had ended up on the same island, in the same tavern, as the night he'd been shipwrecked with Bootstraps and half of the Voyager's crew. When they'd docked, he'd thought it wasn't the same place – it did look different than it had almost twenty-five years ago. But the streets were the same, and the tavern was the same as it had been back then. No, there was no doubt about where Jack was.  
  
He probably should've just listened to Gibbs and docked in Tortuga for a night. At least Tortuga looked quite a bit different than it'd looked when Jack was a young boy, and the Faithful Bride hadn't been there back then – but this little tavern was exactly the same. It could've even been the same table Jack had sat at after being shipwrecked twenty-four years ago.  
  
Which was why he had to get up and leave. Even though he hadn't gotten a drink, he left a gold coin on the table before he left. Jack made his way down the dark streets, having no choice but to take the same route he'd taken back then, and arrived back at the Pearl. Seeing her, at least, gave him a huge amount of comfort, and chased away the images of the Voyager sinking. Jack didn't want to think about the fact that the Black Pearl could've very well sailed right over the sunken Voyager on its way to the island.  
  
The Captain boarded his ship and leaned on the rail, looking out to sea. The sky was clear and many stars were out, and the moon reflected in the ocean, the white glow rippling with the small waves. The sea was calm tonight; the Pearl was only swaying very slightly beneath Jack's feet. Somehow, though, he wanted a storm. He wanted the sky to cloud over, the rain to pour down. He wanted the thunder to crack across the ocean and then, he would feel better because he wouldn't be the only one who was angry.  
  
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A/N: Keep 'em comin', reviewers! lol. :) As I said last chapter, reviewing is not necessary but... very much encouraged. You give me inspiration!! *blows kiss, hands out cake* :} 


	5. Leaving on the Lady Rose

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: Mucho thanks to snowbird3 for the idea for some of the pub scene. ;)  
  
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Chapter Four  
  
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The remaining members of the Voyager's crew were still awake when the sun rose. Jack had gotten out of his bed a little while ago, and had gone to the window. He hated the fact that he couldn't see the ocean from there. He quickly realized how trapped he felt when the sea wasn't in his sight, and turned his back to the window.  
  
A knock came on his door, and he opened it to William. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.  
  
"Haven't really had a chance to talk," William said softly, mumbling a bit.  
  
William sat down at a desk in the corner of the room, and Jack sat on his bed. Neither of them spoke for a little while, and William was staring out the window.  
  
"Can't even see her from here," he mumbled as he too realized that the inn didn't offer an ocean view.  
  
Jack nodded. "I noticed," he said.  
  
Another silence, then William spoke.  
  
"She was a beauty."  
  
Images of the Voyager flashed through Jack's mind.  
  
Jack looked up. "She was."  
  
A pause. Then, "Damn it, I hate this place," William said suddenly, getting up abruptly from his chair. "Let's go to the docks, eh?"  
  
So Jack followed William out of the inn, down the streets of the small town. When Jack was able to see the ocean again, he felt relief wash over him. He'd felt uneasy back at the inn – sort of the worry that someone who'd never been on a ship before felt when no land was in sight, just the open ocean. Except, Jack was just the opposite. He felt uneasy when the ocean wasn't in sight; after all, he hadn't gone a single day without her in his sight for the past four years.  
  
William and Jack sat on one of the docks, feet dangling over the edge. Jack watched the movement of the sea and immediately, his uneasiness was gone. The motion of the sea was more natural to him than anything else.  
  
William was also staring down into the water. "She's gone, but the sea will take care of her," he said.  
  
"What about them?" Jack said, meaning the lost crew members. And the Captain.  
  
William sighed heavily, but said nothing.  
  
The odd-looking pair sat at the docks for a long time. Jack wasn't sure how long it was – he just remembered letting the gently moving water below mesmerize him. He remembered the persistent images of white sails, he remembered the complete sadness enveloping him; but he remembered letting the sea take it all away…  
  
Jack suddenly remembered something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold coin. It was part of a small treasure that the crew had 'acquired' a few months ago. Really, it was the last thing left of the Voyager.  
  
He held the coin in his palm and showed it to William. "Remember? Take it. I shouldn't have the last part of her treasure…"  
  
William shook his head and smiled faintly. "No, Jack. It's yours."  
  
Jack smiled back, and turned the coin over and over in his hands. He had an idea, and threaded it into his hair.  
  
**  
  
What must've been late afternoon, Thomas came to the docks. "I've been looking for ya," he said to William. Thomas sat down next to William and continued, "The Lady Rose's agreed to give us passage to the next city they dock in."  
  
"Where's that?" William asked.  
  
"They're not sure," Thomas admitted. "But we'll be needin' to get out of here."  
  
Jack thought the same, and he knew that William did too.  
  
"Alright," William said. "When do we set sail?"  
  
"First thing tomorrow morning."  
  
William nodded. "Alrigh'," he said again.  
  
"Are you comin' into town?" Thomas asked.  
  
William shook his head. "Not now," he said.  
  
Thomas nodded, understanding that William needed time alone with the sea, and turned to leave the docks. He motioned for Jack to follow, and he obliged. Walking back into town, Jack yearned for the sway of the ship beneath his feet. Being on land felt unnatural to him now, and he noticed himself starting to sway just a little.  
  
"Been drinking?" Thomas asked somewhat incredulously, looking down at the boy.  
  
"No," Jack cut him off, steadying himself a bit. "I just…"  
  
"…Miss being on board?" Thomas finished for him. "Understandable, seein' as I've never seen anyone so… natural on a ship as y'are. Other than Bootstrap, that is."  
  
They arrived at the tavern from last night and ordered some food and drinks. After a little while, William came in. He sat down next to Jack and ordered rum.  
  
Surprisingly though, when William's drink came, he slid it in front of Jack. "Come on, you're as much of a pirate as the rest of us," he said in response to Jack's perplexed look. "Might as well drink like one."  
  
Jack smirked, picked up the mug, and brought it to his lips. He took a sip of the rum. It was surprisingly warm, and he coughed on the drink but swallowed anyway, feeling the warmth travel down his throat. He put the mug back down on the table and said, "Pretty good."  
  
**  
  
By midnight Jack was out cold. He woke up in the morning with a huge headache. The sunlight streaming through his window felt more like a knife searing through his brain, and he felt considerably nauseous from sitting up too quickly. He groaned and slowly got up out of bed.  
  
The night before slowly came back to him. He'd downed the large mug of rum that William had given to him, not to mention the half of a mug that Davies had let him have. He remembered William and Davies having to support him as he staggered down the street ("You're the one who gave him rum," Harris had said, rolling his eyes) and back to the inn, then promptly passing out in the lobby. He didn't know how he'd gotten back in his room, and blanched at the thought of one of the other pirates having to carry him up there. He would never live that down... He prompty decided never to bring it up.  
  
The rest of the pirates, however, had other plans. Thomas was the first one Jack saw, and he said mockingly, "'Mornin, Jack. We didn't think you'd be up at all after last night."  
  
Jack grumbled something moderately vulgar under his breath as he walked past Thomas, who only laughed. Pretty much the same came from Davies, Val, and Harris as soon as they saw Jack. William only winked at him and chuckled, and was thus spared the string of mumbled obscenities that Jack and his hangover were freely handing out to the others.  
  
**  
  
Eventually, the shipwrecked crew all went to the docks as they'd planned.  
  
A man, by looks most definitely not a pirate, walked toward the strange gathering and said, "We're almost ready to set sail, anyway." He motioned for them to follow him, leading the way to a medium-sized ship with the words "Lady Rose" in script on the bow.  
  
"Thank you, sir," William said, showing his best manners to the man, who must've been a merchant sailor. The crew boarded the Lady Rose, and the sailor showed them around.  
  
"We've decided where we're docking next," the sailor told them. "Port Royal, Jamaica. We should be there in three days. Come, I'll show you to where you'll be spending the nights." He led them to the bunks. "The crew should be back very soon, and then we'll be setting off." He looked at the group, waiting for a response.  
  
"Aye," Davies said. That was enough, apparently; the sailor turned and made his way back up to the deck.  
  
**  
  
Jack was very glad to be back on a ship, any ship. The Lady Rose paled in comparison to his Voyager, but he felt like he belonged where he could feel the sea's motion beneath his feet, instead of feeling the land frozen-in-place beneath him.  
  
He'd gone up to the deck and was leaning over the railing. He heard footsteps and turned around to see a young girl walking toward him.  
  
"What's your name?" the girl asked loudly.  
  
The sound did no good for Jack's hangover-headache. He cringed slightly as he turned around (slowly). He looked the girl over quickly; he'd learned to be suspicious of every stranger. She was wearing a dress that just screamed that she didn't belong on a ship; rather, she looked ready for a dinner party. No threat there, Jack decided.  
  
"Jack," he said cautiously.  
  
"I'm Reggie," the girl said, extending a hand. The sound merited another cringe from Jack, who made no move to shake Reggie's outstretched hand. She awkwardly withdrew the gesture.  
  
Thinking the girl would leave, Jack turned back to the ocean. However, Reggie was soon standing next to him. Jack felt her eyes scanning him over. Aggravated, he spun around. "What?!" he snapped.  
  
"You don't have to be so…"  
  
"Impolite? 'Ill-mannered'?" Jack filled in. "Believe me, I've heard it all several times over."  
  
Reggie leaned over the rail, looking not at Jack but at the horizon. "It must be really great," Reggie said.  
  
Jack debated whether or not to answer, then sighed and said, "What?"  
  
"Your life," Reggie said.  
  
Jack could've just burst out laughing at that. However, he didn't. His expression turned stolid and he said, "You don't know anything about my life."  
  
"You don't have to be chained to anything," Reggie said. "You're… free," she finished breathily.  
  
Jack said nothing. He was staring at the horizon too, but the look in his eyes was very different than the wistful one in Reggie's. Reggie looked at Jack again. "You really love this, don't you?" she asked. "The sea."  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
"I wish I could be-"  
  
Reggie was cut off by footsteps behind them. It was the sailor who had shown Jack and the crew around the ship before.  
  
"Hello, father," Reggie said, her wistful tone gone, replaced by formality. "I was just talking to Jack, here."  
  
The sailor nodded. "Well, it's time for dinner," he said. "Come, Regina."  
  
Reggie looked over at Jack again before leaving, then let herself be dragged away.  
  
Apparently, Jack and the pirates wouldn't be dining with the sailors. A little while after Reggie and her father had left, the motley crew of pirates came up around Jack and all stood against the railing. Davies handed Jack a piece of bread, and he ate it still looking out to sea.  
  
"So, what's this Port Royal place we're going to?" he asked.  
  
"I hear it's crawling with the royal navy," Harris said, a sarcastic tone on the last words.  
  
"Wonderful," another crew member groaned.  
  
"So we'll have to keep a low profile," Harris said.  
  
"We won't stay for long," William said. "Make way for Tortuga."  
  
Jack hadn't wondered why they hadn't waited on the island for a ship to take them to Tortuga. He knew that the rest of the crew had wanted to get out of that place as much as he had.  
  
**  
  
Jack woke up the next morning, sleepily thinking he was still aboard the Voyager. Then he remembered they were aboard the Lady Rose, a merchant sailor's ship making for Port Royal.  
  
He got up, realizing he was the first of the pirate crew to be awake. He made his way up to the deck, soon to realize the only other ones who were awake were the sailor from before (he was the Captain, Jack had figured out by now), and the annoying girl from the day before, Reggie.  
  
Jack was about to turn around and go straight back to the bunks, but he was caught. He rolled his eyes as Reggie came toward him.  
  
"'Morning," she said.  
  
"'Morning'," Jack repeated sarcastically.  
  
He was starting to go back down to the bunks again, but she was relentless.  
  
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"  
  
Jack sighed.  
  
"Listen, Jack," she said. Good, she's finally getting to the point, Jack thought. "I want to talk to you."  
  
Jack groaned slightly, and turned around to face her. There's no avoiding it, he thought. "Fine," he said. "What is it?"  
  
Reggie smiled. "Come on," she said, and led him to the stern.  
  
He waited for her to bring something up, which she did in a little while.  
  
"What's it really like? Being a… pirate?" She said the last word with a certain eagerness in her voice, or even longing.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" Jack said, casting a glance at her frilly dress and overall prissy appearance.  
  
"Because," Reggie said. "I wish I could be one. No rules, no people constantly expecting you to be…"  
  
"Tell me about yourself," Jack interrupted her, just to get her off talking about him.  
  
"Well," Reggie said. "My name's Regina Katherine Wellington. I'm twelve years old, but almost thirteen. How old are you, anyway?" She looked at him curiously.  
  
"Fourteen," Jack said. "Almost fifteen."  
  
"You seem older," Reggie noted. "Anyway-" Jack was glad she wasn't pressing the issue- "-I'm from there." She pointed back to the island they'd set sail from, which was shrinking in the distance. "This is the first time my father – you met him – took me on his ship."  
  
"Why?" Jack asked.  
  
"Well, my mother died a month ago," Reggie said, casting her eyes down.  
  
Her words screeched through him. He hadn't been bargaining for that. Just "Oh-my-name-is-so-and-so-and-I'm-so-and-so-years-old", stuff like that. Now what was he supposed to do?  
  
"Sorry," he mumbled with not a trace of the sarcastic tone he'd given to Reggie before.  
  
"Not like it's your fault," Reggie said, looking back up at Jack, who was looking at her in turn. "She was sick for a long time. We sort of saw it coming anyway. Not like it was a surprise…"  
  
Jack saw Reggie's eyes water, and he felt kind of guilty, though he didn't have anything to do with the reason she was crying. Jack had a fleeting thought of telling the girl about what happened when he was six, but it was quickly gone.  
  
Jack sighed. He shouldn't have agreed to talk to the girl. Now she was crying and making him feel bad. He had to get her off of the subject.  
  
"So, you want to know what it's like being a pirate?" he ventured.  
  
Reggie nodded, her eyes lighting up again. "Have you ever found, like, buried treasure or anything?"  
  
"I guess you don't know much about pirates…" Jack mumbled.  
  
"But you've found treasure, right?" Reggie kept at it.  
  
"Sure. We've 'found' treasure." Jack didn't want to recount all of the Voyager's crew's methods of "finding" treasure – after all, this girl could just tell her daddy, who could just report the lot of them to the royal navy once they arrived in Port Royal…  
  
"But what's it like?" Reggie persisted. "The freedom? Living on the sea? Everything!"  
  
How could Jack possibly explain to the girl what the freedom of the ocean was? How could he explain being at the bow and looking out at the horizon, feeling like you could just reach out and touch it, and wanting to. How could he explain looking at the horizon and realizing how endless the ocean is, just… belonging with her, the sea, the ship. He started to say something, but felt like he was violating something, like his relationship with the sea was too intimate a thing to just blurt out to someone he didn't even know.  
  
"I can't explain," he said finally. "It's just... freedom..."  
  
Reggie looked him straight in the eyes. The eye contact was making Jack uncomfortable, so he turned back to the sea.  
  
"I wish…" she sighed. And in that instant Jack suddenly knew how she felt. He knew what it was like to be trapped, after all.  
  
"Mostly everyone spends their whole lives wishing," he said. "But some do something about it." He paused, then turned back to Reggie, looked her straight in the eyes and added, "Savvy?"  
  
Reggie smiled slightly, but her expression was kind of sad. "Thanks. For telling me what it's like," she said quickly, before turning and walking away.  
  
**  
  
Jack milled about the ship with the rest of the crew during the day. They had no jobs to do, which felt odd considering they'd never been on a ship without multiple jobs to do. The merchant sailors didn't talk to them unless they absolutely had to, and even then the sailors made sure it was quick.  
  
Jack was thinking about what he'd said to Reggie that morning. He didn't know why he'd said it. It didn't seem like something Jack was likely to say, and especially not to someone he'd just met. But somehow it'd just... come out when he'd seen the longing in the girl's eyes. By her fancy outfits, her neatly done-up hair, and her overall small appearance and delicate features, Reggie was the farthest thing from a pirate. But by her eyes…  
  
Jack sighed. It wasn't his business, Reggie and her well-off life. She'd grow up, forget about pirates and forget about the sea, marry some rich guy and bring up her kids to be just like their parents. No, the girl really wasn't of Jack's concern.  
  
**  
  
The next day was pretty much the same, but Jack was just enjoying being aboard the ship. That was all he needed, he knew it: the ocean waves rocking the ship, the boundless sea, the horizon. He wished he could steer the ship, navigate them to a new place. He knew how to steer and how to navigate, but he'd never done it. It was just a job for the Captain, or the first-mate.  
  
Reggie didn't talk to Jack for the whole day. She mostly just stayed at the stern, watching as her home shrunk out of view for the first time. But if she happened to pass Jack, she smiled at him quickly, but it was gone almost before it'd come.  
  
Jack was relieved that Reggie didn't seem to want to talk to him anymore. He wouldn't know what to say if she brought up her mother again; he wanted to avoid it. Also he wasn't comfortable with her prodding him for information about piracy. He'd realized the night before that she could've just been trying to get information for her father or something; it could have all been a scam, a search for a reason to turn them into the royal navy in Port Royal.  
  
But for some reason, Jack doubted it. Which was why, by afternoon the third and final day that Jack and the other crew members would spend on board the Lady Rose, he let Reggie walk up to him when he was standing at the bow. He expected she'd start talking again, but she didn't. She just stood next to him as both of them watched Port Royal come closer.  
  
Jack didn't feel the need to say anything, and apparently neither did Reggie. It was kind of intimate, the both of them standing there at the bow of the Lady Rose, a pirate boy and a high-society girl both thinking the same thoughts of freedom, except Jack had the freedom he'd always longed for, and Reggie didn't. But Jack understood, though he'd never admit relating to the girl. In the few days after the sinking of the Voyager, he'd felt like his freedom had been taken away. Though, he knew that he wouldn't be trapped forever. Reggie, on the other hand...  
  
But whatever the future would be, Reggie was still a girl then, a girl who hadn't completely given in to society and its expectations for her. And Jack could just let her be and let her dream while she still could, because soon enough she'd be getting laced into a corset and being told to act like a lady. Jack Sparrow didn't have to be the one who shattered the girl's dreams, after all.  
  
And, there was a certain trust between the two of them. Jack didn't know why, but he trusted that Reggie wouldn't tell her father about the illegal deeds that Jack had participated in. And Reggie must've trusted Jack   
  
Evening came, and the Lady Rose docked at Port Royal. The pirates were making to disembark, and Thomas motioned to Jack. He nodded to Reggie and made to leave.  
  
"Wait," Reggie said. She outstretched her hand and placed something in Jack's. He looked down, noticing that it was a red bead from the center of Reggie's necklace. He looked back up at Reggie.  
  
"We both know, it'll very well be that the only time I'll ever see you again is if you try to rob me or something when I'm older," Reggie said. "But I'll never forget the pirate who told me about freedom."  
  
Jack smirked slightly. "And I won't forget the annoying girl who wouldn't leave me alone," he said. But, near the coin from the Voyager, he wove the bead into his hair.  
  
Reggie was smiling. Her hand brushed Jack's slightly, and she blushed. Jack spun around and left the Lady Rose without looking back.  
  
----------  
  
A/N: Thank you again to the reviewers! :D A thank you to Krillball6, who wrote "I think in the next chapter or maybe sometime later Jack should tell someone what happened to him and maybe someone else had the same thing happen to them. Then he's not alone." That gave me the idea for Jack and Reggie's conversation. :) And just in case you're wondering, I don't think I'll make Reggie into Jack's love interest or anything later on in the story. But who knows... if I can come up with something original enough... *wink wink* :}  
  
P.S.... Review? ;) 


	6. Port Royal

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
by Illoria  
  
----------  
  
Chapter Five  
  
----------  
  
Captain Jack Sparrow opened his eyes. The light was just barely creeping into his cabin.  
  
The sun had peeked over the horizon a little bit more by the time the Captain made his way out on deck. He was the first one up, and, he realized, probably the only one aboard the ship. The crew would've found something to do even in a small, fairly pirate-friendly town, and they wouldn't be finished with 'something' by dawn.   
  
It was all the better anyway. Jack liked being alone when the sun rose, as he had been on many occasions, being the first to wake up when he hadn't had too much rum the night before. He stood at the stern and watched as the sun crept over the horizon, coming out over the sea and turning the ocean to liquid gold. Jack was obviously fixated by gold, but by nature he was even more taken with the ocean. A golden sea? Well, that was just a pirate"s dream come true.  
  
He imagined that he had a while before his crew would be getting back. Looking out over the sea, fading gold as the sun rose higher, he started to drift again…  
  
**********  
  
William, Jack, and their comrades had been very wary of Port Royal after they'd heard of the royal navy's stationing there. They'd taken narrow side-streets instead of the busy main roads, and made their way to a small inn on the outskirts of the town. William set six gold coins down on the counter and said, "One for each room. An extra for confidentiality." The innkeeper nodded, and the pirates went upstairs. They all gathered in William"s room.  
  
"We stay here," William said, "until we can find a way to get to Tortuga."  
  
"How's that?" Thomas asked. "I doubt that any ship docked here will be on its way to Tortuga."  
  
William paused, then said, "Which is why we have to wait. We should've waited on the island for a ship goin' to Tortuga. But…" He didn't need to say anymore; the crew agreed even without words.  
  
"Well what do we do in th' meantime?" Davies asked.  
  
"I don't s'pose we'll be goin' out that much," Harris said contemptuously.  
  
"We can go out," William said. "As long as you stick to the side streets and skirt the navy if you see 'em."  
  
**  
  
One by one the pirates left the inn. Jack went, where else – to the docks. The town, as its name gave away, was a magnificent port. Jack walked up and down surveying the ships docked there. They varied from small-medium (those of merchant sailors) to large (the royal navy's ships, which Jack made sure not to get too close to should anyone be on board). He passed the Lady Rose, half-expecting to see Reggie at the bow. He shook the thought out of his head as he walked on.  
  
The docks themselves were very busy. Some fishermen sat off the far ends with their lines cast in the water. Traders and merchants milled about the docks. Men removed cargo from their ships to bring into town.  
  
Jack's visit was cut short, however, when he spotted a member of the royal navy among the crowds at the docks. Quickly Jack turned on his heels and darted back into town. He decided to inspect the side streets, because much to his disappointment the docks didn't appear to be a safe place for him.  
  
He found many shops selling various things, but he didn't dare go inside any. A few taverns, but they didn't deserve the title of pub – Jack saw through their wide windows nothing but a few men chatting too soberly to be in a rightful tavern.  
  
By evening Jack was back at the inn. So were Davies, Thomas, Harris, and Val. But not William.  
  
"Where's Bootstrap?" Davies asked.  
  
"At the docks, I'll bet," Harris answered.  
  
Jack shook his head. "I was there. So was someone from the navy. William wouldn't stay."  
  
The others mumbled their agreement.  
  
"Well, he'll be back anyway," Harris said to the silence that had filled the room.  
  
"You don't reckon…"  
  
"No," Val sharply cut Thomas off. "Bootstrap's clever. He wouldn't let himself get…"  
  
"'Course not," Jack put in.  
  
Another silence.  
  
"Well this is strange," Val said.  
  
The others grumbled a bit and nodded.  
  
"Should we go out?" Davies ventured.  
  
"How do the pubs look?" Thomas asked.  
  
"Not much like pubs," Jack answered.  
  
"Well if this isn't the most 'perfect' town I"ve ever seen," said Harris in a high, mocking tone. "Let me tell you, we better be gettin' to Tortuga soon."  
  
**  
  
By the next morning, William still hadn't returned. Jack was alone in his room, looking out the window. To his relief, he could see the ocean from this one.  
  
He was thinking about the series of events that had landed them temporarily stranded in Port Royal. None of the pirates could've stayed back at that town, knowing that their ship was underwater off the coast. They just couldn't; Jack couldn't really explain it, just that they'd had to get off that island and fast. But they hadn't ended up in the best of places. They hadn't even been informed of their trip to Port Royal until the last minute, not an hour before the Lady Rose had set sail.  
  
But, Jack supposed, Port Royal was bad, but it wasn't as bad at they'd thought. Last night, the group had managed to find an area on the outskirts of the other side of town that wasn't nearly as stuffy as the rest of the place seemed. There were real pubs there, at least, much to the delight of the pirates. Jack had stayed at the inn while the rest of the crew had gone out; he sort of just wanted to be alone. He'd been feeling that way since the Voyager had sunken; that wanting to be alone. Those times, he thought of the past. Something that he didn't like thinking about.  
  
He turned from the window very quickly as he heard a knock on the door. "William," a voice said from outside. Jack yanked open the door and William stepped in.  
  
Jack noticed immediately that William looked different, somehow. "What's going on?" he asked.  
  
William chuckled slightly. Jack looked at him incredulously.  
  
"Alrigh', alrigh'," William said. He closed the door behind him. "Ya see – yesterday. I was out at the docks 'round noon. Then I saw her-"  
  
"Her?"  
  
"A woman. She fell off the dock," William said. "Must've slipped. Anyway, I went over and pulled her back up. Then I noticed, she was… beautiful."  
  
Jack was looking at William even more oddly than he had been before. "William. You-"  
  
"Anyway," William continued, caught up in his story. "Soon as she had her footing on the docks, she started scoldin' me, like. Said she knew how to swim and all, she could've saved herself." He smirked. "I apologized, 'course. Anyway. Her name's Caroline Roberts. We went into town together an' got a drink. Talked the whole day."  
  
Jack raised his eyebrows skeptically. "You mean to tell me," he said, "that you spent the whole day with-"  
  
"Caroline," William said. "She's real… I don"t know. Somethin' special about her. She's not one of the rich ladies from around here. She's not even from here – she came here with her brother, a sailor. She's not stayin' long, either. But she's…" William took a long time trying to find the words, but even then he couldn't. "I can't describe Caroline. But anyway, I'm meeting her again today."  
  
Jack could not believe what he was hearing. "Does she… Does Caroline know who you are?"  
  
William chuckled lightly. "Knows my name. Could figure out the rest, I s'pose, though I didn't tell her."  
  
"William, you told us not to anything stupid here!" Jack said. "And you're…"  
  
"Jack, listen," William said. "I know what you're thinkin' and I know you're wrong. I'll tell you more later, but right now I've got to meet her." And William turned and left.  
  
**  
  
It went on like this for the next week. William would be gone all day and into the night, coming back to the inn a couple of hours after the sun had set. Davies, Harris, Val, and Thomas went out to pubs on the outskirts of town around sunset; sometimes Jack went with them.  
  
The brief times when William wasn't meeting Caroline, he'd be telling Jack all about her. So far, he knew that Caroline Roberts had long brown hair and bright green eyes, she'd wanted to be a schoolteacher, she wasn't married and never had been, and various other little details, snippets of conversations that William had had with Caroline…  
  
Jack was suspicious of the whole thing. As soon as William came to his room on the seventh day of being in Port Royal (already way too long), Jack told him.  
  
"Listen, William," he said. "You barely know Caroline-"  
  
"Which is why I"ve been gettin' to know her," William interrupted.  
  
"But-"  
  
"Jack, I think I'm in love."  
  
"What?!" Jack stared at William. What was he talking about? Had William taken a blow to the head or something, or had he had too many drinks, or…? "William, what are you talking about?"  
  
"I know it sounds…" William said. "Stupid. But it's true. I don't know, just… Caroline. When I'm around her… it"s just like everything else stops, and all there is, is her. When I'm not around her I miss her like crazy and-"  
  
"You just met her a week ago!" Jack said.  
  
"I know," William said. "But it doesn"t matter. I look into her eyes, and just… I love her, Jack."  
  
Jack took a deep breath to calm himself, and said, "William. If I must remind you, because you seem to have forgotten lately: you're a pirate!"  
  
William sighed. "'Course I am," he said, his tone unchanged. "Caroline knows that."  
  
A huge warning signal was going off in Jack's head. "She knows – what?!"  
  
"She figured it out," William said. "Not like it's hard… But anyway, she doesn't mind. Actually, she loves sailing herself."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Does she also love, say, reporting you to the navy and having you sacked?"  
  
"She wouldn't do that," William said, complete certainty in his voice. "Doesn't like the navy much herself, actually."  
  
Jack did not know what else to say. He looked at William again, and looked into his eyes. He saw a glimmer in the chocolate-brown that hadn"t been there before.  
  
"So you… love her," Jack said.  
  
"So I do," William said with a small grin.  
  
A pause. "What're you going to do?" Jack asked finally.  
  
"I think she feels the same way," William said.  
  
"So what? What are you planning on doing, anyway? Taking Caroline with you to Tortuga? What?"  
  
William didn"t speak for a long time. He looked out the window. Then eventually, back at Jack. "I don't know."  
  
********  
  
Four more days. Then, William came back to the inn just a little later than usual. Instead of waiting until morning, he knocked on Jack's door at night. He opened it warily.  
  
William was grinning. He told Jack to come to the docks with him. So, in the middle of the night the two roamed down the streets of Port Royal and arrived at the docks. They checked to make sure they were alone, then sat on the side of one of the docks, dangling their feet into the water.  
  
And he told the story. William had met Caroline with flowers, which she had accepted. They'd spent the day together as usual, and at night, William had told her the three fateful words. And Caroline had echoed them.  
  
Jack still couldn't believe it. William Turner had fallen in love with a woman named Caroline in a week. William had always been brash, but his boldness had shown in the form of suggestions to go after elusive treasures and the like. But now he'd been bold when it came to a woman he'd met in Port Royal, and they'd ended up…  
  
It was just… odd. William was Jack's best friend, not to mention the closest thing to a father he'd ever had, and – although Jack wouldn't admit it – kind of like a hero. And this, this wasn't like him. It was too… too soft. How could it be that William Turner had been the one to plunder some of the hardest-to-get treasure, only to end up falling in love with a woman within a week spent in Port Royal, Jamaica?  
  
Jack had seen where it all was headed ever since William had told him he'd fallen in love with Caroline. But he couldn't admit it.  
  
He didn"t have to. William admitted it for him.  
  
"Jack," he said, looking at Jack earnestly. Not like just a boy, but like an equal. That was how William had always looked at Jack; if Jack's memory served him right, even when Jack was no older than six.  
  
"I'm staying with Caroline."  
  
The words bounced around inside his brain, trying to register themselves. "No," Jack said. "No, you can't. How can you just… just give everything up?!"  
  
"Jack, I'm not betraying you," William said. He sighed. "I'm not betraying her." He knew that William meant 'her" as the sea, not Caroline. "Caroline's not staying in Port Royal, and neither am I. We'll go somewhere else. But not Tortuga."  
  
Jack clenched his teeth in anger. "How can you do this?!" he demanded again.  
  
William looked at Jack, and that look said it all. That he loved Caroline, and he couldn't leave her. How could Jack ask him to leave her? In that look, Jack could almost see everything that William saw in Caroline. And in Jack's stare, he hoped that William could see everything that he didn't want to say. William had sort of been his pillar for his whole life. Although Jack knew he could very well live without William, he didn't want to lose him.  
  
But he wasn't about to admit to that.  
  
"Won't be goodbye, Jack," William said. "There is no doubt in the world that we'll be seein' each other again. You go to Tortuga with the others, and there you find yourself another ship. Well, you know what to do. Always were independent, after all."  
  
Jack closed his eyes for a moment. "William," he started, opening his eyes. "Why did you do it?"  
  
"What?" William asked.  
  
Jack shook his head. "Why did you take me in when I was six? You had no reason to. I wasn"t anything to you. Why did you do it?"  
  
William smiled. "I couldn't just leave you there," he said nonchalantly. Jack raised his eyebrows, knowing there was more. "Well, that's why I let you stay on the ship the first night. But after that – I saw something in you. Myself."  
  
Jack cocked his head to the side. "You know, you really are too good a man to be a pirate."  
  
William clicked his tongue and smirked. "Is there such a thing? Or can't a man have both?"  
  
Jack looked up at him. Neither spoke for a long time. The water lapped at their feet below, and the moon shone bright above.  
  
"How do you suppose we'll be getting out of here?" Jack said finally.  
  
William threw a glance over at the row of ships. "Take your pick," he said simply.  
  
Jack gave William a suspicious look. "'Take your pick'?" he repeated. "Of the royal navy's flagships?" The idea was actually pretty funny. Jack pictured himself and the pirates sauntering over to the royal navy's pride ship, yelling up to the red-coated Captain that they wanted passage to Tortuga. He pictured the royal navy shouting down to them, 'Tortuga? No problem!' It was hilarious, but just crazy.  
  
"I don't mean get a ride with them," William said, rolling his eyes. He lowered his voice. "I mean get a ride... without them."  
  
"What?!" Jack exclaimed for the umpteenth time that night.  
  
"How else are you all going to get to Tortuga?" William said. "'Sides. It'd be nice to see 'em get theirs." William nodded toward a sign on the docks. 'Pirates Beware.'  
  
"So," Jack said, William's plan getting to him. William had a way of doing that, telling you something crazy but getting you to believe that you could do it. "What's the plan?"  
  
William's eyes sparkled. "Morning," he said, getting up from the docks. "I"ll tell all of ya' in the morning."  
  
**  
  
Morning came, and all of the pirates gathered in William"s room like they had the first night in Port Royal. William told them everything, and a toned-down version of William and Jack"s conversation the night before played out, not as emotion-worn seeing as the crew and William didn"t have 'quite' the same history that William and Jack had. Then, William told them about his plan to 'get a ride' on one of the ships in the docks.  
  
"She's called the HMS Brigadier. Not one of their favorite ships, but a good one anyway – not nearly as heavily guarded as the others. Here"s the plan."  
  
Then, William laid out a very well-thought-out plan. By the end of his speech, the crew was smirking, eyes sparkling slightly at the prospect.  
  
"You think it'll work?" Val said.  
  
William chuckled. "Of course it'll work," he said, as if anyone thinking otherwise was positively mad. "It's foolproof."  
  
There was a very long silence, during which no one else protested to William's plan.  
  
"Who's gonna be in charge?" Davies finally asked.  
  
"Jack, of course," William said.  
  
Jack's eyes widened. "Me?" he asked stupidly. "You're leaving me in charge?"  
  
"'Course," William said. "Me and you, Jack, are the ones who know the most about a ship. Since I'm not comin', that leaves you."  
  
Jack stared, wide-eyed. William was leaving him in charge of not only commandeering one of the royal navy's flagships, but bringing her into Tortuga.  
  
"S'pose it's true," Harris said.  
  
"So," William said. "All of you swear to follow Jack Sparrow's orders while aboard. Savvy?"  
  
"Aye," Davies, Thomas, Harris, and Val said together.  
  
"It's done then," William said. "Evening, at the docks."  
  
**  
  
Evening came, and with it the pirate crew went to the docks. William and the crew said their goodbyes, and then William turned to Jack. Neither spoke for a little while, but eventually, Jack extended his hand to William. "'Till next time," he said.  
  
William took Jack's hand and shook it. "'Till then."  
  
William stepped back and made to walk away. Then, he spun around on his heels and threw Jack a small package. He caught it, and looked up at William.  
  
"By the way," William said, taking two more steps backward. "Happy fifteenth." Then he was gone.  
  
********  
  
And so it was that on Jack Sparrow's fifteenth birthday he commandeered his first ship. Jack smiled at the memory of the first (hugely) illegal activity he'd been in charge of.  
  
William's plan had been foolproof just like he'd said it would. The ship had drifted away from the docks, and by the time the royal navy started firing shots at the pirates who had commandeered it they were far enough away to have no risk of being hit by one of the bullets. And when the navy had raised the anchor of another one of their flagships, the HMS Cavalier, to follow the stolen ship, and gotten up close enough to board, Jack and the other pirates switched over to the Cavalier and glided out of the harbor before the navy had even realized what they'd done.  
  
William's plan had in fact been so foolproof that twenty-one years later, Jack and William's son commandeered the HMS Interceptor using the same plan that Jack and the others had used for the Cavalier.  
  
Bootstrap would've been proud.  
  
------------------  
  
A/N: Wow, I'm writing this really fast, aren't I? For about the past week I've been staying up almost till midnight each night writing Shadows. :) Again and again and again thank you to the reviewers because if you weren't reviewing then I wouldn't be writing so much..! :)  
  
Don't worry, this story is not finished! ;) I intend to go right up to Jack becoming Captain of the Black Pearl. Chapter 6 will come soon!!  
  
*nudges you toward review button* ;) 


	7. Back to Tortuga

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
----------  
  
Chapter Six  
  
----------  
  
The first night on the Cavalier, Jack was at the helm well past midnight. He hadn't even noticed that much time had passed. It was his first time steering a ship, and the feeling of it was even better than he had imagined. He'd always felt like he belonged on a ship, but that first night, alone at the helm, the sea dark and mysterious below, the stars bright above in a clear sky, he felt a stronger sense of belonging than he'd ever felt in his whole life.  
  
The helm of a ship, he'd realized the night of his fifteenth birthday, was the only place where he felt at peace. It was as if the wheel beneath his hands sent a certain energy coursing through him; his senses sharpened and he was aware of everything in poignant detail; the salty air combing through his long, tangled hair, sending it whipping about his face; the horizon in perfect focus right in front of him; the sensation of the ship rocking with the waves heightened and it just felt like that was how everything was supposed to be…  
  
"JACK!"  
  
He snapped out of his reverie at Val's voice. Jack turned around ever so slightly. "What is it?"  
  
"You've been 'ere all night," Val said. "Do ye want me to steer?"  
  
"No!" Jack snapped immediately. "I mean, no. I'm fine."  
  
"Ye look tired," Val said.  
  
Jack did feel kind of tired… he snapped out of it. "I'll be steering tonight."  
  
Val nodded and walked away.  
  
A little while later, Davies stopped by. "Ye need some sleep, Jack," he said. Jack felt a familiar resentment... but still...  
  
Jack reluctantly conceded as Davies took the wheel. He did need some sleep, or else he'd be falling asleep at the helm the next day. He was about to go down to the bunks, but Thomas stopped him. "Now, you get the Captain's quarters," he said. "Bootstrap's orders," he added as he led Jack back to the deck and to the Captain's quarters.  
  
Captain. Even though Jack was only temporarily in charge of the ship, he liked the sound of it. Captain Jack Sparrow. He smiled slightly as he opened the door to the cabin and stepped inside.  
  
It was a very large quarters, with a big bed in one corner with what looked like velvet pillows. There was a desk in the other corner, with a map on it, pins stuck in to various places. Next to the map was an unlit lamp, and down on the floor, next to a small Oriental throw rug, was a cabinet with what Jack presumed would be guns inside. The royal navy's Captain sure did sail in luxury, Jack thought as he flopped down on the bed. He hadn't realized how tired he was, but he fell asleep almost instantly.  
  
**  
  
Morning came and Jack remembered something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little package that William had given him as a birthday present the day before.  
  
He took the lid off the box and realized that there was nothing inside but a ripped piece of parchment. On it an address was written. Jack turned it over and found an explanation.  
  
------  
  
This is the address of the best blacksmith in Tortuga. There's a sword there waiting for you. Just say Bootstrap sent you.  
  
------  
  
**  
  
By evening, Tortuga was steadily coming into view. Jack was again at the helm, and in spite of himself he felt reluctant to bring the ship into Tortuga. It was his hometown, and as he thought of it the blurred memories of being six years old came back to him in a flash. Breaking glass and a scream and a man's voice, a flash of pain.  
  
Jack felt himself breathing heavier as he stood at the helm, the ghosts of images and sounds blending together rapidly, and even more, the vivid feeling of complete and utter fear, frenzied running through Tortuga's crowded streets…  
  
The bow in front of him was blurring and suddenly, the sea was spinning around him. His head was buzzing loudly and suddenly started throbbing… His vision blurred even further and all he could see were patches of the ship and a very unfocused mass that was Tortuga. His hands were sweating on the wheel but he held a death grip on it anyway.  
  
He felt short of breath. Slowly the world came back into focus and the buzzing in his head subsided. The bow stopped spinning about. Tortuga was no longer blurry.  
  
As his breathing returned to normal, Jack glanced around the ship. The crew was scurrying about doing their jobs in preparation for arrival at Tortuga. Jack calmed himself as he loosened his vice grip on the wheel, and noticed that his hands were deathly white.  
  
He was glad that none of the crew had witnessed his little 'episode'. Fainting at the helm would not have been a good thing, and he was sure that the crew would never let him live it through with all the jabs and digs at him that would follow.  
  
He was embarrassed anyway, even though no one else knew that he'd just almost fainted. He wasn't sure why it had happened… The memories were still all so vivid, vivid yet blurred together… And his lack of sleep the night before probably had something to do with it, not to mention he'd been out in the sun all that day…  
  
But he knew that for the most part it wasn't the lack of sleep or the sun that had caused what had just happened. It was the memories that made him sick like that. It had happened once before; three years ago, when he was twelve. It'd been nighttime and he couldn't sleep down in his bunk on the Voyager. He'd remembered that same rush of colors and sounds and sensations and he'd felt so dizzy…  
  
There had been a reason for that particular occasion. It'd been the six-year anniversary. And there was an even stronger reason for today's particular occasion, and that was obviously, the knowledge that in a very short time Jack would be walking the same streets in Tortuga that he'd been running through that day nine years ago.  
  
********  
  
In his cabin on the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow was becoming reunited with one of his true loves… rum, of course.  
  
A series of events, namely Gibbs confessing that they hadn't been able to 'find' all the supplies they needed in the small village, had ended in the Black Pearl being on its way to Tortuga. Not only for supplies, though. It'd hit Jack hard that this was the first time he didn't have a thoughtfully laid-out plan to go after something crazy. This upset him, and he knew it: there was only one thing to do. Find something crazy to go after, and as much as Jack didn't want to resort to it at that moment, there was only one place where a pirate could without-a-doubt find out something crazy.  
  
So, they were on their way to Tortuga, and all the supplies and craziness they needed would be at their beckon call in four days. It was a comparatively long way off to Tortuga, but they all knew the trip was necessary.  
  
It was odd how the place that had been Jack's cage as a child was now his refuge. Tortuga was the one place in the world that a pirate would never be caught, no matter what. Firstly, no one who would've been keen on throwing a pirate into jail would ever be in Tortuga. Secondly, even if the aforementioned person by some fluke of navigation ended up in Tortuga, there were an endless number of pirates on the island and the aforementioned poor disoriented person wouldn't be able to decide which one to sack. Lastly, even if the person in question picked a random pirate to throw into a cell, some of the other pirates would probably all gang up on him and make sure that their comrade wasn't on his way to prison, either that or spring the imprisoned pirate out.  
  
But, Tortuga was certain to present a certain difficulty to Jack now. Ever since his meeting and consequent exchange of rescues with Will Turner two weeks ago, he hadn't been able to disconnect past from present like he usually could. Usually, he was able to separate Tortuga into past Tortuga and present Tortuga; the former he refused to think about, leaving only present Tortuga for the haven it was.  
  
But meeting Will Turner had created a bridge from past to present. A bridge that Jack had destroyed a long time ago… a bridge that he had worked to destroy upon setting foot in Tortuga for the first time in five years.  
  
*******  
  
Jack and the crew let down the anchor after stashing the Cavalier away in a sort of cave on the far side of the island of Tortuga. Docking her with the rest of the ships in Tortuga's ports was out of the question, considering that the royal navy was without a doubt scouring the seas for their stolen flagship at that very moment. So, Jack and the small crew got into a longboat and rowed it into shore. Davies had a flask of alcohol, and Jack asked for a sip. He needed to calm his nerves somehow, seeing as his heart was currently pounding quite loudly at the prospect of walking into Tortuga.  
  
Davies smirked and handed the flask over to Jack, who took more than a sip. He'd downed half the flask by the time he handed it back to Davies, who looked at Jack questioningly, shrugged, and downed the rest of the drink.  
  
Jack was sure, however, that he'd need bottles of the stuff to stop his heart from pounding. Although now he felt ever so slightly lightheaded, he was still grounded in worry. He felt his hands shake as he got out of the longboat with his mates. Harris noticed.  
  
"Jack? You okay?"  
  
Jack looked up and nodded, shoving his hands promptly behind his back. Harris looked at him skeptically, but didn't push the matter.  
  
They stashed the longboat under the docks and tied it up, and then made their way into Tortuga. Each step forward that Jack took felt like a leap backward as present-day Tortuga turned into the Tortuga of the past, as fifteen-year-old Jack fell backward to the frightened child he'd been back then.  
  
"Jack? Jack?" he faintly heard Davies saying his name.  
  
"He doesn't look too good," Jack heard Thomas mumble to Val, who mumbled something back.  
  
"Jack?" Davies repeated.  
  
Jack snapped back to the present, and as he looked around the chaotic street that they were standing in the middle of, he felt as if he'd just fallen into the scene from somewhere else. And really, he had. He'd just fallen from the past into the present, and gradually the present was coming back to him.  
  
"I'm fine," he said quickly. He was fine, now.  
  
Davies opened his mouth to say something, but didn't say it, as he was preoccupied with dodging a chair that someone had flung from a window somewhere above them. Straightening, Davies grinned slightly. "Welcome to Tortuga," he said to Jack. "Ever been 'ere before?"  
  
Jack nodded. "I was born here, actually," he said.  
  
"Really!" Davies exclaimed, obviously impressed. "Hey boys!" he shouted to the other pirates. "This 'ere is Jack's hometown!"  
  
The others reacted the same way, slapping Jack on the back as if being born in Tortuga was something to be proud of. Jack supposed it would've been to another pirate, considering how Tortuga was known for being the pirate's haven of the world, but considering what had happened to Jack in Tortuga he felt quite less than proud.  
  
The pirates kept walking (dodging various things and skirting various brawls along the way). They finally came to a building with a swinging sing indicating what was inside.  
  
"The Faithful Bride," Val said appreciatively. "Most notorious pub around." He threw open the door, and Jack immediately had to leap out of the way as a man fell out into the street.  
  
"Gotta love it," Val said, stepping inside.  
  
Jack glanced around the large tavern. It was complete and utter chaos. There were fights going on all over the place, and he had to step over various drunks passed out on the ground. Barmaids scurried about bringing drinks to a number of shady looking men, and most of the barmaids ended up in the laps of said men. Jack's eyes widened as he had to sidestep a knife whizzing past his ear, which embedded itself in a wooden post only to be yanked out by a burly man.  
  
Jack, Davies, Val, Harris, and Thomas found a table in a dark corner where no one would bother them, and they all ordered a mug of rum, including Jack. A busty barmaid returned with their drinks, bending dangerously over the table, her dress looking like it was coming close to falling off in the process. She winked at Jack as she straightened and said, "Will that be all, boys?"  
  
Davies nodded to her, his eyes lingering on her as she turned to walk away. He raised his mug.  
  
"To Tortuga! The town with the best drinks, and the best women!" They clanged their glasses together and took large gulps of rum.  
  
**  
  
"A-And then," Jack said, his words slurred together very much and his hands waving madly about, "That's when I met William, you see, and we went on this ship and…"  
  
"Just like Bootstrap," Davies remarked, his words slurred also.  
  
They toasted to William, spilling a large amount of rum in the process. With a large gulp, Jack finished off his second mug. The crew used to be cautious about letting Jack drink too much. After all, they'd met him when he was ten (and he'd probably looked even younger). But after William had let him have rum, the rest of them had followed his lead and realized that Jack was growing up if he hadn't already.  
  
"So, ye 'avent been back in Tortuga since you were six, eh?" Val asked Jack, waving his mug around drunkenly.  
  
"No!" Jack corrected. "Havent been in Tortuga since I was ten, on the count of I was at th'orphanage after that…" He made to take another drink of rum, but noticed sadly that his mug was empty.  
  
"Orphanage?" Thomas repeated.  
  
Jack nodded exaggeratedly. "Got tossed in there when the captain of William's ship, he thought I was too young to sail, see, so I had to stay at the orphanage, and had to stay there till I was ten and William came back on the Voyager…"  
  
They all cast their eyes down in reverence for the sunken Voyager, but it was only a very brief gesture considering that they were all so drunk. Soon they were carrying on again, telling stories and making little sense through all the alcohol.  
  
They stayed at the Faithful Bride all night, and past one o'clock in the morning, Harris, Davies, Val, and Thomas had found a couple of very pretty barmaids. Leaving on the arm of a grinning girl, Harris had called back to Jack, "There's an inn a few buildings down, get a room for the rest of the night," and tossed him a pouch full of coins. Jack had rolled his eyes and swaggered outside, and he was now standing in front of the inn.  
  
He walked inside and set a few coins down on the innkeeper's desk. "Just for tonight," he said, trying to keep his voice steady in spite of his drunken state. His efforts were unneeded, however, as the innkeeper's voice was slurred. "Upstairs, find what ya can."  
  
Jack nodded and made his way up the stairs, tripping over a few in the process. He found an empty room and stumbled inside, quite literally falling onto the bed. He fell asleep quickly.  
  
**  
  
In the morning, Jack awoke and the events of the previous night came back to him in one hard blow. Two mugs of rum, and he'd spilled his childhood history to all four of his mates. He groaned, wondering how he could've possibly been so stupid. Anyone but William knowing about the past was something Jack had never intended to let happen.  
  
Well, they didn't know everything. He'd started his story at running into William and left out all the events preceding that. Hopefully the crew, who had been even drunker than Jack had been, would either not remember it or not mention it.  
  
Jack figured the crew would be at the docks waiting for him. However… he had an errand.  
  
Jack walked down the streets, holding the ripped parchment that William had given him. He looked over the address again and turned a corner. He counted building numbers as he made his way down the street, and eventually stopped in front of one of the buildings. He was obviously where he was supposed to be; a swinging sign said that the building was in fact a blacksmith's. Jack smiled and opened the door.  
  
The inside was dark and dusty, the walls strewn with various weapons. A man was in the corner pounding on an unfinished sword with a hammer.  
  
"'Morning, sir!" Jack shouted out over the banging noise of the hammer.  
  
The man looked up from his work, and upon seeing Jack, he set down his hammer and walked over to him.  
  
"What can I do fer ye?" the blacksmith asked.  
  
"Bootstrap sent me," Jack said.  
  
"Ah!" the smith exclaimed, his indifferent expression gone and replaced with one of interest. "Ye must be Jack Sparrow, then! Come here, come here." Jack followed the blacksmith across the room, where a row of very nice swords hung upon the wall. The smith scanned the row and stopped at one of the swords, which he removed from the wall very carefully.  
  
"What do you think?" the smith asked interestedly as he handed the sword over to Jack... who dropped it.  
  
Embarrassed, Jack retrieved the sword from the ground and grasped the handle. It felt awkward in his hand. "Ehhh…" was all that escaped his mouth.  
  
The smith raised his eyebrows, "Ah," was all he said.  
  
Jack nodded sheepishly.  
  
The smith appeared to be debating something with himself. "I practice with these, I could…" He threw his hands up in surrender. "Ah, I'll teach ye. If Bootstrap took to ya like he did…" He shook his head. "I owe him a few favors anyway. Tell you what, come here at noon every day."  
  
Jack nodded. "Thank you," he said.  
  
"Meanwhile, you'll be needing a sheath for that," the smith said, nodding toward the sword still clutched awkwardly in Jack's hand. The smith walked over to the wall that he'd taken Jack's sword down from, and retrieved its sheath. Jack fastened it to his belt and sheathed the sword.  
  
"I'll be here tomorrow," he promised as he backed out of the smithy, making his way to the docks.  
  
**  
  
"What took ye so long?" Davies asked as soon as Jack arrived.  
  
Jack pulled the sword ever so slightly out of its sheath. "William had it made for me," he explained. "I was picking it up."  
  
Davies nodded.  
  
"'S nice," Val remarked, eyeing the sword.  
  
Jack smiled and sheathed the sword.  
  
"So," Thomas began, "what's the plan for today?"  
  
The five looked at each other and eventually shrugged. They all looked at Jack, who raised his eyebrows.  
  
"You're in charge," Val reminded him.  
  
"While on board the Cavalier," Harris added. "Which we are not. So really, we don't have to listen to Jack." But none of them made to leave.  
  
"Do whatever you want," Jack eventually said as all eyes fell on him again.  
  
The pirates shrugged and made for town again. Jack shook his head, disappointed at his not knowing what kind of orders to give the crew. On the Voyager, the Captain had told them to stock up on supplies while in town and had given them orders concerning when to board the ship again. But the crew was only one of five, too small to sail very far, and their ship was only a temporary arrangement to bring them into Tortuga.  
  
Jack, not knowing what else to do and eager to learn how to use the sword sheathed at his side, went back to the smithy that he'd just come from. Opening the door, he called out, "I'm back. I'm ready to start now."  
  
The blacksmith emerged from a small room in the back of the smithy. "Back already, eh?" he said. "Well, I suppose we could start now…" He grabbed a sword for himself off of the wall.  
  
"Can I ask you something?" Jack said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just, why do you practice with these?" Jack asked. "I mean, there's not really a need for you to…"  
  
"Ah, don't get much business," the smith admitted. "Figured it'd be useful to learn. So I did. Now, we'll start with basic blocks and counters. Alright!" The smith lunged with the sword. "Now, block." Jack blocked.  
  
By evening, Jack was doing pretty well with "basic blocks and counters". "Your footwork needs work, but we'll work on that another time," the blacksmith said.  
  
Jack sheathed his sword. "Thank you, again," he said before leaving.  
  
**  
  
The next week went the same way. Jack reported dutifully to the smithy every day. By the end of the week, the blacksmith told him he was doing very well. Jack had even managed to outsmart the smith's moves a few times, but he still needed work. They agreed to spend a few more days training.  
  
Meanwhile, Jack and the crew had reached a point that could be summed up as: "What next?" Jack called a meeting on the deck of the Cavalier at the end of the week, and they all reported there.  
  
"I've got an offer to join the crew of the Sea Serpent," Thomas reported. It turned out that Harris, Davies, and Val were also thinking of joining the crews of other pirate ships.  
  
"But we're not goin' anywhere if you 'avent got anywhere to go," Davies assured Jack.  
  
Jack nodded. He opened his mouth to his answer to the looming "What next?", but then he remembered something: he didn't have an answer. The last week had been comprised of days spent learning how to fight at the smithy, and nights spent at taverns, which Jack had been thoroughly enjoying. But he didn't know what was next, which caused him to worry in spite of himself.  
  
"Eh, I…" Jack stumbled. "I'm actually thinking of staying in Tortuga. Just for now," he added quickly.  
  
"Let's stay here for another week," Harris said after a little while. "Make sure of…"  
  
"Alright," Jack said, recovering. "Tortuga for another week. Then we…" He didn't feel the need to finish his sentence. The crew all nodded.  
  
So the crew was leaving, and he didn't blame them. They were pirates, after all. They weren't tied to staying together, and they would most likely meet again anyway.  
  
Eventually, the crew went down to the bunks. Jack stayed on deck, at the bow. Noises faintly drifted from Tortuga, but mostly the only thing he could hear was the sound of waves pounding against the sides of the Cavalier. Jack took a deep breath of the salty air.  
  
He could stay in Tortuga. But what would be there for him? He really didn't know. He could get passage on a ship to somewhere, but… what would be there for him then? As much as he fiercely hated to admit it, he knew in the back of his mind that not many Captains would want him to join their crew. He was only fifteen, although he knew more about a ship than many grown men did. But there was a nagging doubt in the back of his mind…  
  
He shook it off. He'd find something. He didn't feel like worrying about it… For now he was just fine standing at the bow of the ship he'd commandeered, looking out at Tortuga and the sea.  
  
------------------  
  
A/N: Thank you to all those who have reviewed, and to all those who are about to review. ;) *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* 


	8. Priestly Duties

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: I won't be updating this story from August 13 to August 17 because I'm gonna be on vacation. :) Just to let you know! ... But don't go anywhere, k? ;)  
  
---------  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
---------  
  
Gradually the next year passed, and Jack was sixteen. It'd been a year since Val, Thomas, Davies, and Harris had departed on their respective pirate ships setting sail away from Tortuga, and Jack had seen Thomas and Davies once since then when their ships had docked in Tortuga. Jack had stayed on the island, and he had gotten an apartment above the smithy where he'd gotten his sword and learned how to use it. He paid off the rent, of course, with the very large sum that he'd fetched by selling the Cavalier.  
  
At first glance it was kind of a stupid thing to do, really, selling her. She was one of the fastest ships around, and a beauty. She'd definitely been the navy's pride for a reason. Jack hadn't really thought anyone would be particularly inclined to sail aboard a ship captained by a fifteen-year-old boy, but just in case, he'd made an open request for crew members at various pubs around Tortuga. Not to his surprise, he hardly got any response.  
  
It was a frustrating thing, really. Jack had the royal navy's flagship at his disposal. She was just waiting there, but he couldn't do anything about it. It was a frustrating thing, really, being captain without a crew. A frustrating thing, and a worthless thing. So Jack had met a man who had walked into the Faithful Bride looking for a ship, and he'd introduced the man to the Cavalier. They must've hit it off, because the man bought her.  
  
And so, that was how Jack came to be living in Tortuga. Sometimes, however, he'd disappear for weeks at a time, hitching rides on various pirate ships to various places in exchange for his services on board. He did come in handy when the pirate ships took detours to prey on other ships that had the misfortune of sailing past them, as Jack was by now very good with that sword. Consequently, he earned himself a favorable reputation among many pirates.  
  
Things were, really, pretty good when Jack's birthday wheeled around again. He was sixteen, but he looked older. His hair was down to his shoulders by now, and there was a substantial amount of trinkets woven into it. There was the coin from the Voyager and the bead from Reggie, and also some trade jewelry and other items of importance to him.  
  
So, he turned sixteen, and then six months passed. Then something happened.  
  
He was in the Faithful Bride, alone with a mug of rum, when above the chaos surrounding him he heard a voice yell, "Jack Sparrow! I'm looking for Jack Sparrow!"  
  
'Curious,' he thought as he cautiously took his feet down from off the table and rose from his chair. The voice yelled out his name again, and he pushed through the crowd until he found the owner of the voice. A gruff looking man stood aside from all the chaos going on in the tavern, and he called out again, "Jack Sparrow!"  
  
Jack walked up to the man. "I'm Jack Sparrow," he introduced himself.  
  
The man shoved a rolled-up piece of parchment into Jack's hands. "Message from William Turner," he said before turning to leave.  
  
Jack's eyes widened a considerable amount, and he quickly left the Faithful Bride. He didn't unroll the parchment until he was back in the apartment, where he eagerly undid the black ribbon tied around the parchment. It unfurled, and Jack scanned the page.  
  
------  
  
William Turner and Caroline Roberts  
  
To be wed March 24  
  
The Church of Our Saviour  
  
Port Royal  
  
------  
  
Beneath the formal script there was a messily written message from William. 'Jack, I want you to be there,' was all it said.  
  
Jack badly wanted to go to the wedding, and he could get passage to Port Royal easily enough. But the thing of it was, he was technically a wanted man there, considering that he was the one who had commandeered the Cavalier a year ago and the navy would most likely still be in a tither about it, and they might recognize him. He would go, alright, but he'd have to make sure he went as someone else.  
  
A mischievous glint came to his eyes as he considered the prospects.  
  
**  
  
By the next week, Jack was hitching a ride on a pirate ship that had agreed to drop him off in Port Royal. He'd been the one to distract a merchant ship's captain while the crew of that particular pirate ship had snuck down to the ship's stores to plunder whatever they could get their hands on, and so, Jack had earned a favor from the pirate ship's captain.  
  
When the ship sailed into the docks at Port Royal, Jack nodded to the captain. "Many thanks, mates!" he called as the gangplank was let down, and he stepped onto the dock.  
  
William was getting married tomorrow, so Jack had no time to spare. He skirted the main roads on his way to Port Royal's only church, a very fancy one, he realized as he arrived at the place. He stole around to the side of the church, and snuck in through a window. He landed inside a room with a chalkboard and rows of little desks. He recognized it as the room used for Sunday school. A crucifix on the wall seemed to follow Jack as he crept across the room to its only door. Jack felt kind of creepy as he glanced over at the crucifix, and a list of illegal deeds with his name tied into them quickly ran through his head.   
  
He opened the door and stepped into another room. Ah, just what he was looking for. An empty counter lined one wall, and a cabinet was fixed above it. But what Jack was in search of was hanging on a hook from the wall. A full priest's costume at his disposal.  
  
He walked over to the clothing reserved for a priest, noting that it was a bit too big for him, but it would have to do. He removed the outfit from the hook and stuffed it quickly inside an empty sack that he'd brought along. With that, he left through the same window he'd come and got himself a room for the night above a tavern.  
  
**  
  
The next day, Jack quickly put on the priest's robes over his clothes, and planted on his head the mitre that came in handy covering his very 'un-priestly' looking hair. He examined himself in the mirror, turning this way and that. He couldn't help but grin at the notion of him, a pirate, dressed in such holy garments. 'All for you, William,' he thought as he left the inn and walked down the streets. Several passerby bowed their heads to him as he walked by, and he bowed back exaggeratedly. He made his way to the church, and entered through the front door.  
  
No one was there but William, standing in front of the altar. Jack grinned and made his way to the front of the church silently. William whirled around as Jack's robes swished ever so slightly, and looked perplexed only for a second.  
  
"Jack!" William said.  
  
Jack couldn't resist. "That'll be Father Jack to you."  
  
William chuckled and shook his head. "I knew you'd find a way." He gestured toward the priest's getup.  
  
Jack shrugged.  
  
"Thanks for coming," William said. "The wedding is at noon. I'm just here…"  
  
"To 'scout out' the place?" Jack filled in. "Get him used to you?" He nodded toward the crucifix.  
  
William didn't answer. Instead, he said, "So, what have you been doing?"  
  
"Oh, this and that," Jack said nonchalantly. "Priestly duties. You know." He grinned.  
  
"No, really," William pressed.  
  
"I'm living in Tortuga, as you must've figured out," Jack conceded. "Hopping pirate ships. Pillaging, plundering, so forth. I sold the Cavalier."  
  
"What about the crew?"  
  
"They joined other crews."  
  
William nodded. "So where are you going during the ceremony?"  
  
"Where should I go?" Jack asked.  
  
"I'd recommend you just… stay to the side." He gestured to the entrance of the church. "Look inconspicuous. Blend in."  
  
"I'm a priest, how much more do you want me to 'blend'?"  
  
"You know what I mean," William conceded.  
  
There was a moment of silence. Then Jack smirked.  
  
"So you're getting married?" he said.  
  
William nodded. "So I am."  
  
**  
  
William eventually had to leave the church, and Jack wasn't sure quite what to do with himself. He resorted to standing at the entrance to the church trying to look… priestly, he supposed.  
  
People began arriving at the church. Jack nodded to them as they walked in, and they said, "Hello, Father," to him. Jack tried to contain his smirks, as the whole thing was hugely amusing to him. A woman sat over at the piano; a few people sat in various places in the pews. Jack waited. Many people filed in and took their places in the pews. Caroline's family and friends, they must've been.  
  
The tolling bells coming from the church's tower told Jack that it was noon. The piano player struck up a tune, and the doors opened beside him. The real priest entered carrying a cross (luckily he was looking straight ahead, and paid no notice to the impostor priest). When the priest was at the altar, the piano player switched songs. A woman took long strides through the entrance, on the arm of an older man. Jack scanned the bride's face, eager to see Caroline for the first time. She was pretty; but the most noticeable thing about her was the brilliant green of her eyes.  
  
The bride parted with her father at the altar, and she stood waiting for her groom. When William entered, Jack caught his eyes for a brief moment before he made his way to the altar and stood facing Caroline.  
  
The ceremony was carried out, and William and Caroline kissed on the altar. After the kiss broke, it was announced that the reception would take place at Caroline's father's house. The pianist struck up the tune of a psalm again as the priest left the church, and then William and Caroline filed out, followed by the guests. Not surprisingly, William came back into the church shortly afterward, taking Caroline with him.  
  
"Congratulations, William," Jack said with a wink.  
  
William was beaming. Caroline was confused.  
  
"You know the priest…?" she asked.  
  
Jack couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.  
  
"Shhh…" William shushed his new wife. "He's not a priest. In fact, this here is Jack Sparrow. Known him since he was six…" William shook his head. "Let's just say we've seen a lot together, eh? But Jack – this… is Caroline." He presented her to Jack, putting his arm around her shoulder. She grinned.  
  
"Pleasure," Jack said, bringing Caroline's hand to his lips and kissing it softly. He leaned in to William and whispered, "Don't be jealous, William. You get her tonight."  
  
William shook his head and chuckled.  
  
"Are you coming to the reception?" Caroline asked Jack.  
  
Jack shook his head, regret evident on his face. "Unfortunately, no," he said. "I have to go."  
  
William looked disappointed, but he knew it wasn't a good idea for Jack to be going to the reception. William obviously had to go himself, but he was lingering. "It really means a lot to me," he said to Jack. "That you came."  
  
Jack bowed slightly and said, "I wouldn't have missed it."  
  
A pause. Then William said regretfully, "We have to be going."  
  
"It's alright," Jack said. "Come to Tortuga sometime and I'll give you a proper reception."  
  
William grinned. "I'll take you up on that."  
  
Another pause. "See you, Jack," William said.  
  
"Sooner than you'd think," Jack promised.  
  
**  
  
Jack left the church after William and Caroline feeling slightly lonely. He shook it off as he walked down the streets of Port Royal. Passing the marketplace, he couldn't resist plucking a coin-filled pouch from its unattended place at one of the stalls.  
  
His little theft was, he'd soon realize, not a smart move. For he'd only taken a few steps when the trader he'd stolen it from was right by his side, examining Jack with a very confused look upon his face. The trader opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut shortly after. He was utterly perplexed at the priest who'd just stolen his money.  
  
Jack was nervous about being caught, but even more nervous about the trader finding out about him being an impostor priest, which he would certainly find out…  
  
"You…" the man started. "Father? You… Er…"  
  
Jack opened his hand to reveal the pouch. He quickly thought of a last-ditch effort to save his neck. "My mistake… my child. You see, I was trying to teach you a lesson. 'Thou shalt not steal.' See, I was just demonstrating what you shouldn't do. A new way of teaching the commandments, you see."  
  
The man looked at Jack very skeptically.  
  
And in that instant, something that was most definitely not in Jack's favor happened. A bag of apples spilled from a passing cart, and Jack tripped over one, his priest's headwear falling off in the process, exposing his unruly long hair strung with trade jewelry.  
  
The trader scowled and started chasing after Jack as soon as Jack had picked himself up and started running away. This guy just didn't want to give up. Jack didn't look back for a while as he cut through alleys trying to lose the trader, but he was still on his tail. Not only that, but the sight of a priest being chased had attracted the attention of two red-coated members of the royal navy, who were chasing after the trader chasing after Jack. Eventually, he found himself cornered in a dead end of an alley. His eyes darted around for some sort of an escape, but there was nothing. Oh, he was in trouble.  
  
The trader skidded to a halt, and the navy members stopped in back of the trader. "What is going on here?" one of the red-coats demanded.  
  
"He stole from me!" the trader stated, pointing an accusing finger at Jack. "Not to mention he is impersonating a priest."  
  
The navy members exchanged wide-eyed glances, and then quickly ganged up on Jack. Each took one of his arms.  
  
"This is a direct violation…" one of them said, proceeding to rattle off the codes and rules that Jack was currently in violation of.  
  
"State your name," the red-coat finally finished.  
  
"Smith," Jack said quickly. "Allan Smith."  
  
The red-coat rolled his eyes. "State your name," he repeated.  
  
"Allan Smith," Jack repeated.  
  
The red-coated brought a gun up to Jack's head. "State. Your. Name."  
  
"Jack Sparrow," he said.  
  
The man lowered the gun and pressed it to Jack's back instead. "Come with us," he ordered.  
  
The royal navy members proceeded to drag Jack off to the Port Royal prison. Just outside of the building, though, Jack noticed an opportunity. Only one navy member currently had a hold on Jack, as the other one was unlocking the door to the prison. The gun was still pressed to his back… but… Jack didn't have time to debate it, he just had to escape and this looked like his only shot. He whirled around in the red-coat's grip and grabbed the gun from the man in one quick motion. The other navy member rushed over quickly, but the one who had been holding Jack in place had loosened his grip enough for Jack to slip out from his arms. He pointed the gun at them, and taking steps backward he reached under the priest's robes and unsheathed his sword, which he also pointed at the navy members.  
  
One red-coat was slowly advancing on Jack, while the other pulled out his gun. Jack whirled around and starting bolting immediately, taking them off-guard. Both of them ran after him, but he dodged into an alley, losing them for a moment. But not for long. He heard their footsteps coming, and without anything else to do, he ducked into a building. Looking around, he noticed it was the kitchen of someone's house. He stepped quietly through, making his way to the other side of the house and hoping fervently that no one was home. Luck really wasn't on his side today – a woman stepped in through the front door just as he was about to step out through it.  
  
She shrieked shortly. Jack quickly folded his hands and bowed slightly. Straightening, he said, "I suspect I'll be seeing you at Mass this Sunday." With that, he exited the house and closed the front door behind him.  
  
He starting running again as soon as he was outside, knowing he wouldn't be able to throw off the navy for long. He ran to the docks and scanned the rows of ships, hoping against hopes that the pirate ship he'd arrived on yesterday had for some reason lingered there. Luck suddenly switched sides, as he spotted the ship sailing out of port, but not too far away. Without a second thought he threw off the priest's robes, leaving him in just his regular clothes, and he waded into the water and dived under as soon as it was deep enough.  
  
He swam out to the ship and waved frantically up to the man at the helm. The man looked down at him with a shocked look on his face, and yelled for rope. The rope came quickly, and he threw it down to Jack.  
  
Jack fell onto the deck. "Many thanks, mates!"  
  
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A/N: You know I couldn't resist telling the story of this particular illegal endeavor of Jack's. *grin* =) And I had an awful lot of fun doing it... considering that it's past 1:12 AM as I write this! hehe.  
  
See that review button? It is your friend. ;} 


	9. Cold

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: I'm sorry it took me such a long time to get this chapter up. :\ I was on vacation for 4 days and other than that I found it a hard chapter to write. Sorry again!  
  
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Chapter Eight  
  
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Jack didn't have to undertake any more endeavors of the priestly sort as more months passed by, and he turned seventeen. Things passed pretty much the same way they had been for him; helping out various pirate crews when they were a man short, or just in need of assistance of some kind. One night, in the Faithful Bride, another messenger came for him, this time with a note from William saying that his son, Will Jr., had been born.  
  
Jack pictured William with a son, and the image came easily to him. He was funny, William. He could be as despicable as the dreads of society got, but he could also be more noble than any high-society man. The remarkable thing was that neither aspect of him was a guise, and somehow it all blended together seamlessly.  
  
Jack wanted to meet William's child, but he didn't like the idea of a visit to Port Royal. He was, after all, a wanted man there now that the navy had discovered his name in the midst of the whole "priest" incident.. So, he told the messenger to hold and he quickly composed a reply to William, inviting him to Tortuga for the "proper reception" he'd promised William at his wedding.  
  
Another month passed until Jack got any response. The response was that William would come to Tortuga in a year's time, because he didn't want to leave the baby so soon.  
  
Six months passed. Then, luck decided to play a game with Jack again.  
  
There was a fire at the smithy, and it burned down while the blacksmith and Jack were out, leaving Jack with no place to stay. He only had one choice – he went to the docks, spotting a pirate ship on which he'd had temporary places on the crew various times when the ship was a crew member short. The ship was called the Odyssey.  
  
Jack alerted the captain of the Odyssey, Ascott. Ascott quickly stepped onto the docks upon seeing Jack, greeting him heartily. Jack had been very useful once in a swordfight upon the Odyssey, having disarmed the enemy ship's captain so that he was forced to surrender.  
  
Jack explained his situation to Captain Ascott, treating him to a drink at the Faithful Bride. Ascott was quite a bit indebted to Jack, so he agreed to give him a position on the crew for their next voyage.  
  
So Jack and the Odyssey's crew set off to Singapore. It was a long voyage that resulted in many spoils well worth their long journey, and the crew divided the treasures amongst themselves. However, a week before they were to dock in Tortuga, something very unexpected happened.  
  
Jack was jolted awake by the booming sound of cannon fire. Panic seized him as he hurriedly jumped out of his bed and dressed. The other crew members were behaving in the same hurried fashion, as they had all been sleeping until the cannon awoke them.  
  
The crew hurried out on deck. The Odyssey's Captain Ascott was at the helm, using a spyglass to zoom in on a rapidly approaching ship. Another boom from the approaching ship's cannons shook the Odyssey.  
  
The Captain turned and addressed his crew. "Swords ready!" He yelled out several crew members' names, telling them to man the cannons. The rest of them were to stay on deck and fight.  
  
Jack's hand immediately darted to the hilt of his sword. He unsheathed it at the same time the other crew members unsheathed their swords, ready and waiting.  
  
The attacking ship, which had the word "Spirit" painted at the bow, was right by the Odyssey in a matter of minutes. The Spirit's crew wasted no time boarding the Odyssey, and the Odyssey's crew wasted no time fighting the invaders.  
  
The man that Jack was dueling was good with a cutlass, but Jack was better. It wasn't long before Jack managed to disarm the man. He quickly turned as another of the Spirit's crew members advanced on him.  
  
Suddenly he spotted Captain Ascott struggling to fight three men who were advancing on him. Jack quickly dodged a sword that was being swung at him and dashed to the upper deck. He and the Captain started fighting back-to-back.  
  
Jack was dueling two men at the same time, and having some difficulty. As he blocked one man's attack, the other lunged. Luckily he stepped out of the way before the man's sword could fatally wound him like it had been intended to, but instead he received a large gash on his arm.  
  
He was bleeding and his arm was in very much pain, but he kept fighting to the best of his ability. He disarmed one of the men he was dueling, and as the other man lunged he separated from the Captain. Only when Jack and the other man had dueled all the way across the Odyssey's main deck did he realize that he'd been tricked. The man he was currently dueling, Jack realized, had led him away from Captain Ascott on purpose, so that Ascott would have no backup as the Spirit's captain advanced on him along with the man he'd been dueling before. Jack had no time to marvel at his stupidity, however, as he glanced quickly over at Captain Ascott, who looked to be in a lot of trouble dueling both the skilled Spirit's captain and the other man. Jack knew that his captain needed his help, but how in the world could he get over there?  
  
Jack and the other man parried, and Jack eventually managed to get a disarming attack in, sending the other man's sword clattering to the deck. Without a second thought, Jack rushed off to the Captain's assistance. Jack took his stance beside Ascott, dueling one of the men, leaving only the two captains locked in a duel. Suddenly the man Jack was dueling lunged. Again Jack sidestepped the attack, only to receive another gash on his arm. The pain pulsated through his arm, and unbidden a small moan escaped his mouth. He was having trouble holding his sword steady now as both gashes on his right arm were bleeding heavily and the pain just kept getting stronger. His counterattacks were weakening steadily and he felt a wave of panic course through him.  
  
Suddenly, the Spirit's captain disarmed Ascott and lunged at him. Jack didn't even completely realize what he was doing as he disarmed the man he was dueling and was in a flash in front of Ascott, blocking the attack of the Spirit's captain that would've killed Ascott. The Spirit's captain scowled and sidestepped Jack, trying again to attack Ascott, but Jack was quick and used his sword to save Ascott again. Both the captain of the Spirit and Jack were getting angrier by the moment, as the Spirit's captain moved in on the defenseless captain Ascott again.  
  
Jack lunged. Taken by surprise, the Spirit's captain failed to block Jack's attack, and he stumbled backward a step before falling to the ground, a look of disbelief etched on his face.  
  
Jack's heart was pounding hard, his breathing getting heavier. His sword was tipped in red, and the same red was on his hands. The blood of the Spirit's captain… was on his hands. He took two steps backward, disbelieving. What had just happened was all hazy, and all he remembered was the anger stronger than any anger he'd ever felt in his life.   
  
...It frightened him.  
  
Ascott was by his side, his eyes passing slowly over the captain of the Spirit lying motionless on deck and up to the blood on Jack's sword.   
  
Jack's hands were shaking, from shock and, in the case of his violently trembling right hand, from the two deep gashes on his arm. He dropped his sword, and it clattered to the ground.  
  
Ascott clamped a hand down on Jack's shoulder. He barely felt it, as a haze had settled over his mind, dulling the throbbing anger and leaving only numbness.  
  
Meanwhile, the rest of the Odyssey's crew had the crew of the Spirit backed in a circle around the mainmast, holding their hands up in surrender.  
  
**  
  
That night, there was great celebration on the Odyssey over the Spirit's defeat. They had quickly boarded the ship and taken all they could. Jack, however, wasn't celebrating. He was just sitting on his bunk, staring at the ground.  
  
The door opened, and Ascott came in and sat beside him. Jack heard him talking from somewhere far-off. Eventually, the words reigned him in and he could decipher their meanings again.  
  
"…just going to disinfect those cuts…"  
  
Jack nodded vaguely as Ascott raised a bottle of rum and poured some into the two deep gashes in Jack's arm. Jack gritted his teeth as the wounds started to sting, all the pain returning twofold.  
  
Ascott lowered the bottle, but Jack reached for it. Ascott gave it to him, and he took a huge gulp. He had downed half the bottle by the time he spoke again.  
  
And even then the only thing he said was a string of mumbles, an intelligible word now and then.  
  
Ascott knew that he meant, though. "You're a pirate, Jack," he said. "And ye saved me life so I s'pose I owe ye fer that, mate. But what do ye expect?"  
  
Jack shook his head and clutched the bottle of rum angrily. He squeezed his eyes shut, seeing red. He realized he had a vice grip on the rum bottle, and he loosened it considerably, opening his eyes and taking another gulp.  
  
Eventually, Ascott left. Jack didn't fall asleep until late into the night, and only after he'd finished off the bottle of rum.  
  
**  
  
The Odyssey docked back in Tortuga, followed closely behind by the overtaken Spirit. It was a week before William was set to arrive.  
  
Jack spent some of his small share of the treasure from Singapore on a room in an inn for the week, and while William was staying. The week passed quickly, and so it was that on a September evening in Tortuga, William arrived at the docks, where Jack was already waiting.  
  
Jack felt a smile come to his face for the first time in months at the sight of William. As soon as they were off of the docks, William thrust a small package into Jack's hands.  
  
"Happy eighteenth," William said.  
  
Jack stared skeptically at the passage, suddenly realizing something. He started muttering under his breath.  
  
"What?" William said.  
  
Jack shook his head, chuckling softly. "I forgot it was my birthday."  
  
**  
  
They immediately went to the Faithful Bride, where the two got a table away from all the commotion. William ushered a barmaid over and ordered two mugs of rum, and they didn't start talking until the drinks came.  
  
"You've done a lot of growing up, that's for sure," William remarked.  
  
Jack smirked. He hadn't seen William in two years. His hair was now down to his shoulders and more strands of it were strung with trade jewelry and various items of importance to him. Also, in the past year he'd gotten a tattoo on his forearm of a sparrow flying across the sun setting over the ocean, to represent himself.  
  
But he hadn't only changed physically. In addition to this, he had a somewhat distant, detached sort of air about him that he could tell worried William.  
  
William paused, awkwardly shuffling his mug of rum from hand to hand. "Jack," he began cautiously, pausing again. "Are you all right?" he finally asked.  
  
"Don't worry about me, William," Jack said, glaring up at William.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"What do you mean what happened?" Jack snapped back.  
  
William sighed. "I know you, Jack," he said, "and I know that something's happened. Now what is it?"  
  
Jack looked down into his rum. He took a long gulp before he even tried to speak again.  
  
"Have you heard of the Spirit?"  
  
William nodded. "I've seen her… a real beauty, that."  
  
"Her captain is dead. I… I killed him, William."  
  
Jack felt the familiar numbness wash over him, the throbbing anger that had receded to the back of his mind. He felt obligated somehow to explain to William, so, in a mumbling, sometimes inaudible or unintelligible voice, he told William the whole story about the battle aboard the Odyssey and his defense of her captain.  
  
And William said the same thing that Ascott had told Jack that night, but in a different tone. "You're a pirate, Jack. What do you expect?"  
  
"I just… " He mumbled a few words, gesturing vaguely with one hand to something only he could see. "…Could've disarmed him…" More mumbling. "I couldn't think, mate." Mumble, mumble.  
  
"Every man feels that way… the first time another man's blood is on his hands," William began slowly. "But you're a pirate, Jack, and-"  
  
"But that's not why..." Jack shook his head, unable to think of any words to explain.  
  
"It's a tough bargain sometimes," William said roughly.  
  
"William, I… I guess I never realized how angry I was," he murmured.  
  
William placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I s'pose you have every reason to be," he said.   
  
Jack looked up at William.  
  
"But you're a man now, Jack," William finished, withdrawing his hand.  
  
Jack finished off his mug of rum.  
  
"So," Jack said, the numbness retreating. "How's Caroline? And Will?"  
  
William sighed and took a long swig of rum. "I can't stay…" he said, his voice sounding troubled. "I love Caroline. And Will. But I have to get back to the sea."  
  
Jack looked at William inquisitively.  
  
"I'm staying in Port Royal till spring," William said. "I've got a deal to join the crew on the Renegade. I've already talked about it with Caroline."  
  
"She… She doesn't mind?"  
  
William looked down and shook his head. "I won't stay away forever," he mumbled. "Just…"  
  
Jack understood. He certainly couldn't picture himself ever "settling down" with a family; the notion was actually hilarious to him, considering how much it just didn't fit. Not only was he fiercely independent; he could never stay away from his one true love, the sea. Jack Sparrow would do about as well as a fish on dry land.  
  
It wasn't that William's affinity to the sea wasn't as extreme as Jack's. It was that William's affinity to his relationships was stronger. Jack generally shunned relationships and wanted to avoid any commitments at all costs. See, William could survive in a house in a nice town with a wife and kids – he would just be restless. Which he was... Jack saw it in his eyes: William wanted desperately to get back to the ocean.  
  
"I'll come back to them," William said, looking up.  
  
"I know," Jack said, trying to sound reassuring.  
  
"I just can't stay away…" William mumbled.  
  
"Listen mate," Jack said. "You don't have to explain."  
  
William chuckled. "I s'pose not," he admitted.  
  
**  
  
It wasn't until that night, when Jack was in his room at the inn, that he remembered his birthday present.  
  
He pulled the small package out from his pocket and removed the lid. Inside was a medallion of sorts, and an explanation from William.  
  
-----------  
  
This belonged to Captain Landers, of the Spirit. I knew him, and he gave this to me once. I heard about what happened on the Odyssey and figured you might want this, to remember him by.  
  
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Jack shook his head, staring down at William's note in awe. So he'd known all along.  
  
Jack wove the medallion into his hair, finishing off a string of beads.  
  
**  
  
William stayed in Tortuga for a little while, and then he left for Port Royal. After that, Jack went back to assisting the crews of pirate ships whose captains he'd gained favor with, getting a small slice of those ships' treasures in return.  
  
The brief times when he wasn't sailing, he had no place to stay back in Tortuga. He pretty much stole whatever he needed (it was pretty much overlooked in Tortuga anyway), and not having a place to stay at night in Tortuga he had to watch his back. He learned to rely on his wit to get out of various compromising situations.  
  
Sometimes he would just lie out on the docks at night, gazing up at the stars, which were always lurching about in his vision whether he was on a swaying ship or steady land… Because for Jack Sparrow, there really was no steady land. And that was the way he wanted it.  
  
********  
  
That was what Captain Jack Sparrow was doing the night before the Pearl would arrive in Tortuga. He was stretched out on her deck, looking up at the stars, and thinking back to the times when he was eighteen, nineteen, alone on the island of Tortuga. But not really alone… he'd always be accompanied by the knowledge that if he wanted company, he could just step into any of the various taverns strewn about the place, have a mug of rum and call over one of the barmaids.  
  
He got to doing that somewhat often by the time he was twenty. By the time Jack was twenty, he had the two long scars on his upper right arm and various strands of his hair completely covered in various trinkets. Trade jewelry. The last piece of treasure from the Voyager. A bead from a girl named Reggie. The medallion that had belonged to the Spirit's captain. The dice weren't there yet, and neither was the long, skinny bone.  
  
By the time he was twenty, he had figured out the trick with the kohl, lining his eyes to cut down on the glare of the sun. One of the barmaids in Tortuga had once said that it made his eyes look intense, and after that… well. He smirked at the memory and fingered a bead in his hair that came from her bracelet.  
  
There had been many women like her in Tortuga. Sleeping with men was their trade, but they were by no means after Jack's money. Each and every one of them thought in her own way that he would love her, because they would claim to have fallen in love with him. And he would just tell them, "You don't want to be saying that." And by dawn he was gone. No, he didn't love any of those women; he lusted after them, true, and there was the matter of him always being drunk upon his encounters with them to consider...  
  
Captain Jack Sparrow let out a long sigh as lay on the Pearl's deck. He loved that ship; exactly like her namesake, she was rare and beautiful. It was like the Pearl was one with the sea, not like the other ships whose hulls seemed to interrupt the flow of the ocean. The Pearl moved with the sea, not against her.  
  
Yes, Jack was madly in love with his ship and the boundless sea. There was always more treasure to go in search of, more adventures to go after and more chances to risk his life for the thrill of it.  
  
Jack was waving his hand limply about in the air, pointing at various stars and mumbling to himself occasionally, drawing invisible lines in the sky and forming shapes with the stars. There was a cluster of stars that looked remarkably like his compass… a bird in flight… a fish… a ship's sails…  
  
Having located all the shapes in the sky that he wanted to, he lowered his hand, stretching his arms out above his head. He yawned slightly, closing his eyes. The Black Pearl swayed gently. A sea breeze brushed across his face.  
  
His mind was straying to the ladies of Tortuga. When they docked, he would have to pay Scarlett a visit. And Giselle. They hadn't given him time to sort out that whole matter upon his last visit. He sighed rather heavily. Yes, he'd have to visit Scarlett, and Giselle. He'd probably run into Francie. Maybe Iris…  
  
But he found himself just a little reluctant.  
  
His eyes snapped open. This was odd. Perhaps he'd spent too much time with Will Turner and was thus turning into a whelp like the boy. Disturbed, he shook that notion off quickly. Perhaps he was going crazy. 'Mate', he thought to himself, chuckling softly, 'you've already gone crazy.' Well, perhaps he was going sane. He couldn't let that happen… If it was, then pretty soon he'd just be a… sane… whelp.  
  
Or maybe he was… (he closed his eyes again)… losing his edge.  
  
He said a colorful oath, sitting upright. He shook his head and was rid of that insufficient explanation. Captain Jack Sparrow would NEVER lose his edge.  
  
Jack lay back down on deck.  
  
Then what was wrong with him lately?! Just the other night, he had turned down rum. And he'd turned down a woman's company. Just last week, he had bloody turned down Tortuga.  
  
It WAS the whelp's fault, Jack concluded. Ever since meeting Bootstrap's son, he couldn't shake the images of Bootstrap that kept coming unbidden to his mind. He was completely unable to erase from his mind what he knew had happened. William Turner had been cursed for all those ten years after taking the Aztec gold along with Barbossa and his men, only to be sent down to the bottom of the ocean. William would've been drowning for all those ten years, but now he would have finally… died.  
  
"Why in BLOODY HELL did you take that gold, William?" Jack mumbled up to the sky.  
  
Of course, William hadn't known the gold was cursed. None of them had known. Jack hadn't known, when he'd set off to find it. He'd been left to die on an island and tortured by the sight of his Pearl sailing off under Barbossa's command, but he had escaped the curse. And he had gotten his ship back, and his revenge, and it was worth those ten years he spent, say, waiting for the opportune moment.  
  
But William had taken the gold. And he had been cursed.  
  
William had been the best man that Jack had ever known, and the thing of it was, it wasn't an act. William was a pirate, and a very good pirate, and he was also a very good friend who would make any sort of sacrifice for those close to him. In Jack's case it had been his life William sacrificed, however inadvertently. William wouldn't have been strapped to a cannon and sent to the bottom of the sea, after all, if he hadn't protested the mutiny against Jack.  
  
And that left Jack feeling…  
  
…cold.  
  
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A/N: This chapter was very sad, I know. :'\ I assure you that it will get better. :)  
  
Also I have a favor to ask you! Does anybody have any ideas for where Jack got that bone... thing... in his hair? I've thought of backstories for all the other trinkets but I can't think of anything for that one. So if anybody has a suggestion I'd appreciate it very much. :)  
  
This story is also close to the end, methinks! I think there's only gonna be like 2 chapters left. =0 After this I'm thinking of writing a humor-Jack-POV piece. Or a story about Giselle. Or both. :)  
  
Anyway - Next chapter, Jack gets the Pearl!! whoo! :)  
  
psst... review :) 


	10. Rare and Beautiful

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: You may want to backtrack a bit, because there have been changes made to the last chapter with the battle aboard the Odyssey. It just didn't... sit right, I guess, with me, so I changed a bit so that Jack's actions were in defense of the Odyssey's captain. 'K?  
  
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Chapter Nine  
  
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When Jack was twenty-one, he was a part of the crew of the Endeavor during their raid on the town of Port St. Lucie; the Antoine during their raid on three consecutive pirate ships on the open sea; and the Azura during a voyage to Trinidad that involved Jack disguising as a member of the royal navy to get the other pirates out of a compromising situation that involved a stowaway and lots of rum.  
  
Yes, it was a very busy year for him.  
  
By the time Jack was twenty-two he had an undeniable reputation among pirates for his swordfighting skills and his daft but crazy ideas. Sometimes his reputation was a favorable one; sometimes it wasn't. It all depended on whether things had gone well or not on particular voyages. For instance, the crew of the Endeavor liked Jack very much because the raid on Port St. Lucie had earned them a small fortune. The Antoine's crew favored Jack because they now had the treasure of all three of those ships. The Azura's crew, however, were out to get Jack because of the whole incident in Trinidad, during which they were almost all hung. They didn't acknowledge that Jack was the one who got them out of the situation… just the one that got them into it.  
  
His reputation was pretty much split down the middle… pirates mostly either owed him their lives, or wanted him dead. Nonetheless, he received many offers for permanent positions on many ships… all of which he declined. He was waiting for something else.  
  
By the time Jack was twenty-four, he was still actively searching for that something.  
  
He woke up sprawled out on the shore, the tide lapping at him. He must've fallen asleep there after consuming a particularly large amount of rum the night before. So when he awoke with a splitting headache, he was sandy and partially wet on one side from the tide coming in. He opened his eyes quickly, which was a mistake, seeing as he was lying on his back facing upwards and the first thing he saw was the blinding sun directly above him. He groaned and closed his eyes again.  
  
Flashes of the night before came back to him as he lay on the shore. He'd been in the Faithful Bride, of course.  
  
**  
  
"So Jack, got yerself a ship yet?"  
  
"I'm in the market."  
  
"I know of a ship. Real beauty. Casey Avoy's lookin' to sell her, I hear."  
  
Jack had been leaning back precariously in his chair, and upon hearing this he let himself fall forward. He leaned in closer to the man.  
  
"Is she here?"  
  
The man shook his head. "No, no, not yet. Casey's just bringin' 'er back from a voyage to Singapore. 'Er last voyage, he was sayin'."  
  
"When are they getting back?" Jack asked, his interest growing by the second.  
  
The man took a moment to think. "Should be gettin' back this week, actually," he replied eventually.  
  
"How old is she?"  
  
"Only a year. In prime condition, she is," the man answered.  
  
**  
  
Jack decided eventually to give the whole opening his eyes bit a second try. Slowly, he opened them, being sure to bring up a hand to shield them from the sun. After this task was completed, he sat up (slowly) in the sand and (slowly) brought down his hand. He got up and started walking toward the docks, paying no mind to the various stares directed toward him, seeing as he hadn't even bothered to dust the sand off of himself, and also one of his sleeves was dripping wet. He got to the docks quickly, and sure enough he saw a new ship docked there.  
  
He literally stopped in his tracks at the sight of her. The ship was a wreck.  
  
Her hull was splintered in a few places, and the mainmast had suffered considerable damage. It was a small marvel that the ship had even managed to sail into port with the gaping hole on her starboard side.  
  
Jack scanned the ship over for a long time. The strange thing was, he saw how beautiful she was. In his mind she wasn't the wreck that she was, but she was without a doubt the best ship he had ever seen.  
  
He asked around the docks for Casey Avoy, the ship's owner. Eventually someone pointed Casey out to him, and he rushed over to the man.  
  
Casey was talking to someone else, but Jack paid no heed. "'Ello, mate!" he called out. Casey turned around.  
  
Jack stepped closer. "Jack Sparrow," he said, extending a hand. Casey looked at him skeptically, but shook the hand.  
  
"I heard that you're currently looking to sell your ship," Jack pushed forward.  
  
Casey was still looking at Jack skeptically. "You… seen my ship?" he asked eventually, his voice sounding wary.  
  
Jack folded his hands together and looked at Casey over them. "Of course I've seen your ship," he said, throwing his arms out. "She's a beauty."  
  
Now Casey was looking at him like he was insane. "You seen my ship… today?"  
  
Jack dropped his hands. "Of course I have!" he said, as if Casey's question was absurd.  
  
"Then you know of the damage?"  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Nothing that couldn't be fixed, mate. Now do you want to sell your ship or not?"  
  
Casey raised his eyebrows. "How about we… get a drink and talk?" he ventured.  
  
Jack smiled coyly. "Knew you'd see it my way."  
  
**  
  
Casey and Jack went to the Faithful Bride upon Jack's suggestion… all right, upon Jack's insistence. Casey ordered a mug of ale, and Jack had – what else? – rum.  
  
Casey was talking over a barmaid who was currently sitting on his lap. "Honestly, I'm not sure if I…" The barmaid was playing with a strand of his hair. "…am still lookin' to sell my…" Her hands strayed down to the buttons on his shirt. "Listen, I'll catch up with ye later, Stacey," he said sharply to the woman. She huffed and got up from her place on his lap, walking away. Casey looked after her for a brief moment, mumbled something under his breath, and went on.  
  
"Anyway Jack," Casey continued, "I don't think she's still for sale. Right rotten luck last voyage. Got raided by the Azura… we won, but only after they'd blasted those holes in 'er hull. Then we hit a storm, and that's the reason fer the damage to the mainmast. Those repairs would cost too much of my money."  
  
Jack leaned his head back and studied Casey down the bridge of his nose, a mischievous sort of glint in his eyes. His lips curved upward in a smile eventually, as he leaned back in his chair.  
  
He raised his hand. "Ah, but what if the man interested in buying your ship were to pay for said repairs?"  
  
Casey's eyes widened interestedly. "It's a lot of money," he said eventually.  
  
Jack leaned forward, unfastening a large pouch from his belt. He turned the black velvet pouch over, and a wealth of gold coins spilled onto the table.  
  
Casey picked up one of the coins, examining it in awe.  
  
"I think there will be enough to pay for the repairs," Jack said after a little while, "and the ship. Savvy?"  
  
Casey replaced the coin, and Jack scooped the lot of them back into his pouch.  
  
Jack grinned as he realized that he'd taken Casey completely by surprise. Casey was still staring at the place on the table where the gold coins had been. Eventually he looked back up at Jack, cracking a smile.  
  
"You pay for the repairs, and we'll take it from there," Casey said. "Savvy?" he added mockingly.  
  
Jack scowled. "I'm not about to fall for that, mate," he said. "You're going to make me pay for your ship's repairs… and then keep her for yourself." He was securing the pouch back onto his belt.  
  
Casey's expression remained unchanged. "It depends… on how much gold you'll have left…"  
  
Jack studied the man sitting across from him, staring right into his eyes. He saw Casey flinch eventually under his gaze.  
  
After a brief moment of contemplation, Jack outstretched his hand to Casey, who shook it. Then in a flash, Jack had the other man pinned to the table, sword at his neck.  
  
"And if you go back on your deal…" was all Jack said before releasing the man.  
  
Casey straightened and nodded, visibly trying not to look flustered. "It's a deal."  
  
**  
  
Over the next month, a crew of architects was paid by Jack to perform the necessary repairs on Casey's ship. The hole on the starboard side was fixed, as were the splintered parts of the hull. The repairs to the mainmast took a long time, but eventually they were finished. On the last day of the repairs, Jack handed over a large sum of gold coins to the chief architect. Casey stood by his side on the dock, and both of them looked over the ship. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than Jack's image of her had been upon their first meeting.  
  
Casey and Jack boarded the ship and walked around. Jack immediately strayed to the helm, where he started running his hands affectionately over the wheel.  
  
Jack wheeled around as he heard Casey's footsteps behind him.  
  
"So?" was all Jack said.  
  
Casey looked around his ship again, as if he couldn't believe it. He looked back at Jack and let out his breath, beginning to chuckle softly. Jack looked him over suspiciously, one hand still lying protectively on the wheel.  
  
"Now Jack," Casey said somewhat cautiously. "I 'ave another man wantin' to buy her."  
  
Jack stepped closer to Casey, his hand reluctantly leaving the wheel. "How much is he offering?"  
  
"Same as your offer," Casey responded.  
  
He couldn't go any higher than he'd already agreed to pay for the ship… "Well, I suppose there's only one solution then!" Jack said finally, throwing his arms up.  
  
"What's that?" Casey asked.  
  
"Introduce us, and…," Jack explained," …we'll come to an accord."  
  
Casey nodded. "Alright then," he said. "He should be around 'ere somewhere. Name's Barbossa."  
  
**  
  
Casey and Jack disembarked and walked through the streets of Tortuga until they found the man they were looking for in a tavern called the Blue Dolphin. The two walked over to the man, who was sitting alone in a corner with a mug of ale. Jack didn't hesitate to pull up a chair across from him, and the man looked up at him. Casey explained.  
  
"This is Jack Sparrow," Casey said. "He's interested in buying my ship. Suggested you two 'ave a talk about it."  
  
"How much is your offer?" the man named Barbossa asked Jack immediately. Jack told him, leaving them both without many options for negotiation, seeing as neither was willing to raise the already high price.  
  
Jack noticed Barbossa's hand was resting on the hilt of a sword whose sheath was strapped to his belt.  
  
"Are you any good with that?" Jack asked, nodding toward Barbossa's sword.  
  
"I like to think so," Barbossa answered.  
  
"We duel then," Jack said finally. "Winner has the ship." He stood. "Savvy?"  
  
Barbossa stood too. "You're a bold one, 'Jack Sparrow'," he said. "Fine then," he conceded. "We duel."  
  
**  
  
Jack and Barbossa found a spot on the shore where they would be uninterrupted, and where neither of them would have any sort of advantage. In the background was the faint figure of the ship they were dueling for. They wasted no time getting started, and it soon became apparent that Jack and Barbossa were both very skilled with a sword, and were equally matched.  
  
It was a challenge for Jack to block Barbossa's clever attacks, but Barbossa was having a hard time deflecting Jack's. The two were still fighting viciously when the sun was beginning to set. Jack would've normally been tired after a whole day of dueling, but in this case he wasn't tired in the least bit. He fought with an intense fervor, the silhouette of the ship seeming to call out to him to win the duel, to win her. Jack needed that ship, it was a want deep inside of him, it was how he could already envision what it would be like sailing toward the horizon with her, how he could already hear the distinct way the waves would lap against her sides, how he could already feel the spray of the sea as he set off as her captain.  
  
Blade against blade. Neither man would ever back down, even after the sun set and the only light was from the full moon. They circled and lunged and blocked and deflected with skill and fervor, the sounds of their duel clanging through the air, contrasting with the lapping of the tide onto the shore. Jack had a cut on his face that was luckily not deep and had stopped bleeding by now. Barbossa's shirtsleeve was torn, revealing a gash running across his arm.  
  
Circle, lunge block and counter. Sidestep and attack. It went on for a long time still, until Jack found an opportunity.  
  
Barbossa swung his sword at Jack, and Jack slammed his own blade against Barbossa's, deflecting it downward. As Barbossa started to bring the sword up again, Jack quickly lunged to Barbossa's side and as Barbossa was turning, Jack slammed his blade against Barbossa's again, the force sending the sword off to the left and causing Barbossa's grip to loosen slightly.  
  
Jack seized the opportunity and soon had the other man disarmed, Jack's sword at Barbossa's neck.  
  
Barbossa looked down the blade and at Jack holding it steady, not even inches from causing a fatal wound. Barbossa, however, did not flinch. He just stared at Jack, almost threatening him to make a move. Jack didn't move, though. He kept the sword steady at Barbossa's neck. The tide lapped on the shore.  
  
"So this is it then?" Barbossa asked finally.  
  
"I could kill you now," Jack said, the sword coming even closer to making contact, "… or… I could let you live and make you my first-mate."  
  
Barbossa was taken off-guard, Jack saw as the man's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly. He quickly regained his composure, however, regarding Jack skeptically across the blade being held dangerously to his neck.  
  
"So what'll it be?" Jack asked eventually.  
  
"Why are ye givin' me a choice?!" Barbossa asked.  
  
Jack shrugged one shoulder, causing the blade to move up to rest right beneath Barbossa's chin.  
  
"What's your decision?" Jack asked again without giving an explanation.  
  
"I'll take your offer, Jack Sparrow."  
  
Jack lowered the blade slowly and eventually sheathed it. He still had Barbossa's sword in his other hand.  
  
"That'll be Captain Jack Sparrow."  
  
**  
  
Jack bought the ship on what he thought to surely be the best day of his life. The ship still docked, he stood at the helm alone that day. He ran his hands over the wheel, a smile playing on his lips.  
  
She was beautiful. And unique – with the new repairs and touch-ups, the chief architect had told him she'd be one of the fastest ships around.  
  
Rare and beautiful.  
  
He named her the Black Pearl.  
  
**  
  
Jack and Barbossa wasted no time rounding up a crew in Tortuga. In just one week, the entire crew was assembled on deck.  
  
"Captain, we're still one crew member short."  
  
He told the sailmaster not to worry, he had someone in mind.  
  
**  
  
That night, Jack and the whole crew went out for drinks at the Faithful Bride. Jack got involved in a gambling game over a hat, and won it by rolling double sixes. After weaving one of the winning dice into his hair that was now held back by a red bandana, he put his hat on, left the tavern and boarded the Pearl.  
  
The next day, they set out with Jack at the helm. The Pearl's speed was discovered, as they arrived in Port Royal very quickly. The Black Pearl was stashed away in a cove as Jack and a few of his men rowed into shore. The crew members went around town while Jack sought out William's house. After a bit of asking around and dodging anyone who looked to be wealthy, Jack found out the address. However, the man who told him said that the house had been empty for almost four years now. Jack, disbelieving, made his way to the house anyway. After knocking on the door and getting no response, he cautiously crept inside. The front room was completely bare, and after a bit of inspection he discovered that the same was true about the rest of the house.  
  
"That's interesting," he mumbled to himself as he left the house, closing the door lightly behind him.  
  
Jack hadn't seen William in seven years… he hadn't even realized it'd been that long. He'd gotten a note from him now and then, and from these he knew that William had joined the crew of a pirate ship called the Renegade, like he'd said he was going to. His letters always mentioned Caroline and Will, and how much he missed them.  
  
So why were Caroline and Will gone? William must've known…  
  
Jack was thinking about this when he ran into someone. The 'someone' mumbled his apologies and started to walk away, but then stopped as he noticed Jack.  
  
"Jack Sparrow?"  
  
Jack's eyes widened. It was Charlie, the Odyssey's quartermaster.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked.  
  
"Looking for a certain William Turner," Jack responded.  
  
"Bootstrap Bill?" Charlie said. Jack nodded. "I've heard o' him… sailmaster on the Renegade, right? They're supposed to be docking 'ere by next week."  
  
Jack folded his hands in his traditional gesture of thanks. "Many thanks," he said as he started walking away.  
  
**  
  
Jack gave the orders to remain anchored in the cove until the Renegade arrived. The crew wasn't happy about this.  
  
"Don't you think we should be setting off?" Barbossa asked.  
  
Jack glared at his first-mate. "No," he said simply. "We're a crew member short, and we're waiting here for someone I know will be wanting to fill the position, savvy?"  
  
Barbossa nodded, looking reluctant. "Just dangerous, stayin' in Port Royal for that long," he said. "Just warnin' ye, Captain."  
  
"I'm sure I don't need your warnings."  
  
**  
  
Sure enough, the Renegade docked in Port Royal at the beginning of the next week. Jack was already at the docks, waiting for William to disembark.  
  
Jack saw William walking down the gangplank, and broke into a grin as he walked right up to the end of the plank. William's eyes widened in shock as he saw Jack.  
  
"What…" William stumbled. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Jack really wasn't sure where to start, and he was waving his arms about as if trying to snatch an explanation from the air. Finally he just pointed at the figure of the Black Pearl sitting in the distant cove.  
  
"Mate… see that ship there?"  
  
William nodded.  
  
"She's mine."  
  
William turned back to Jack, eyes getting even wider. "You've got yourself a ship now?"  
  
"Aye. The Black Pearl," Jack said reverently.  
  
"She's…" William shook his head, looking back at the Pearl. "…beautiful."  
  
Jack grinned even wider. "That she is," he said.  
  
"Captain… Jack Sparrow?" William said eventually.  
  
"Aye," Jack said proudly. "And I, 'Captain' Jack Sparrow, am a crew member short. … I'm here to extend an invitation."  
  
**  
  
William agreed without a second thought to join Jack's crew… making himself a few enemies on the Renegade in the process. But William had little time to worry about this, Jack inferred, as he was focused on visiting his family.  
  
As soon as William said this Jack did a double take. So William didn't know that his house was empty, that Caroline and William had gone? That the house, from what he'd heard, had been empty for four years now?  
  
Jack jumped in front of William as he was making his way off the docks.  
  
"Now do ye really want to be doin' that, mate?" Jack asked. "I mean-" William sidestepped Jack, who had to dive in front of him again. "-I'm sure they're out right now, right?"  
  
William sidestepped Jack again, who only resumed his stance blocking William's route.  
  
"What's going on, Jack?" William said as he had to circle around Jack to get ahead of him. William started walking into town, Jack at his heel.  
  
"It's just… We have to get going!" Jack pushed forward. "The Pearl's waiting! We need to get going…" He jumped in front of William again.  
  
"Would you stop that?!" William said, having to sidestep Jack again.  
  
"I just don't think you want to be… going… home…"  
  
Jack trailed off as he realized they had arrived at William's house. William was smiling as he opened the door, but the smile abruptly dropped off of his face as he realized the house's state. He backed out of the doorframe, his face etched with pain.  
  
"Ye knew about this?"  
  
Jack nodded, walking over and placing a hand on William's shoulder.  
  
"Where are they?"  
  
"Haven't a clue, mate," Jack said. "Last week I figured Caroline could tell me when you'd be coming back and… well, she… wasn't here to tell me so…" Jack racked his brain for things to say. He really wasn't good at this 'consoling' business.  
  
William looked down, shaking his head. "I shoulda known…" he mumbled more to himself than to Jack. "I was always gone. Shoulda known Caro wouldn't be puttin' up with that…"  
  
"Well if she just up and left like this, she's not worth your trouble!" Jack proclaimed, kicking himself mentally after he'd said it. No, he REALLY wasn't good at consoling.  
  
William' eyes were closed as he turned away from the house. "How long?" he asked finally.  
  
Jack winced a bit before he responded, "Four years." He rushed forward: "But mate, she'll be coming back, savvy?, and you'll see 'em again, or if she doesn't come back, the bloody…" -he mumbled something under his breath here- "…you, William, are going to find her."  
  
William took a moment before he said anything. He looked strained, standing there with his back to the empty place, as if he was waiting for something to happen that he knew he wouldn't like. But finally, he turned back around, eyes open with the usual glint in them, and he said, "Best be goin', eh?"  
  
"Aye." Jack grinned and turned, leading William to the Black Pearl.  
  
**  
  
Review, review, review! :D I will appreciate it a WHOLE LOT if you do. 


	11. Epilogue

Shadows Over the Sea  
  
By Illoria  
  
A/N: This is it! The last chapter!!!! :O So without further ado...  
  
----------  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
----------  
  
Jack was certain that he fell even deeper in love with the Black Pearl every single day. He'd find nuances with her, the specific way her sails would flap in the wind – new, black sails, that the crew had invested in after a particularly successful raid. The way she moved with the sea, stealthy and sneaky but captivating and alluring. It was something indescribable, a connection of sorts that had been forged when he first saw her, ruined in the harbor at Tortuga but illustrious and majestic in his vision.  
  
For three years Jack was captain of the Black Pearl, and he was madly in love with every second.  
  
He noticed every slight nuance of the ship, but he should've noticed the slight nuances in his crew. Barbossa would argue with him about their destinations, their courses, their intentions. The crew would back him up, save for William, who trusted Jack.  
  
Eventually, William found out where Caroline and Will, Jr., had moved to, and he sent a letter telling them that he would visit soon, as Jack promised they would. But Jack could see the strain in William, the pain in his eyes. He could see William torn, wanting to go back to his family but never wanting to leave the sea. But William never talked about it, and Jack never brought it up.  
  
Jack first found out about the treasure when the crew of the Black Pearl had raided another pirate ship, and in a chest they'd acquired from the ship was a rolled-up piece of parchment tied with ribbon. Jack took it to his cabin and unfurled it, discovering quickly that it was a description of a gold-filled island, an island that one could only find if he knew where it was. At the bottom of the parchment, the bearings of the island were written in hasty-looking scribbles.  
  
The Pearl docked in Tortuga shortly after that, and Jack set out to find out all he could about the gold-filled island in question. He showed the parchment to various people, who weren't much help considering that few could read and most were drunk. Among the things people told him were that there was supposedly a giant elephant on the island guarding the treasure. Jack would've believed the stories if he'd had too much rum, but fortunately he had heard the stories early into the night… so he kept looking.  
  
It took him a month to find out anything worthwhile, but it was well worth his wait. He grinned madly as he listened to a man describe a treasure of Aztec gold, over eight hundred coins stashed away in a cave on the island. Jack, of course, set out in search of the treasure.  
  
The first day of the voyage, there was a storm.  
  
"Are ye sure ye want to be sailin' into that storm?"  
  
Jack scowled. For one, he didn't like being interrupted at the helm by anyone. But secondly, he didn't like his intentions being questioned, and he really didn't like the distaste lacing the voice of his first-mate.  
  
"She can hold."  
  
"We could try to-"  
  
"She can hold, Barbossa."  
  
The man nodded and walked away. Thunder rumbled faintly from far away as the drizzling rain started coming down harder.  
  
Barbossa didn't trust the Pearl, which was a sad thing indeed. Jack knew her and trusted her more than he trusted anyone really, and he knew that she could make it through this storm and speed up their delivery to Isla de Muerta.  
  
The rain continued on for the next two days.  
  
********  
  
Ten years after the planned voyage to Isla de Muerta, Captain Sparrow was walking around on deck on the Pearl, shouting out various orders to his crew. He winked at Anamaria, who just rolled her eyes exasperatedly as she walked by. Jack grinned and shrugged, knowing that she'd come around eventually… 'eventually' meaning when she'd had enough to drink, of course.  
  
Yes, the captain was coming back to being himself. The crew had noticed his grim mood as of late and they were visibly glad that he was snapping out of it. It was a sort of peace that he'd made with the past, a sort of alliance that had been forged between himself and the Jack Sparrow that used to be. It wasn't a hard alliance to make, considering that the two weren't all that different, really. And with this, he could go on to new prospects of glimmering gold and uncharted places that only he was crazy enough to set off after.  
  
They had arrived in Tortuga and had had a most excellent night, during which Jack managed to find out what he'd wanted to find out – something new to go after. An elusive treasure was waiting for him, and the Black Pearl had set off to find it.  
  
That night Jack was alone, lying on deck. It was starting to rain, just slightly, just gently. Jack opened his mouth and tasted the raindrops. He didn't move from his place on deck as it started pouring. He just smiled and started singing, faintly at first, then louder as the rain drowned out his words.  
  
"Drink up me hearties, yo ho!"  
  
"What in bloody hell are you doing out here?"  
  
Jack snapped upright, a sad smile playing on his lips. When he'd been captain of the Black Pearl the first time around, he'd laid on her deck at night as he still did now. And he'd patrolled the deck during midnight storms, singing sea chanteys in the rain.  
  
And it was William's voice he'd heard. Asking him why in bloody hell he was out on deck in the rain.  
  
Jack had gestured for William to sit beside him, and he had. The rain was fading, leaving only a faint lingering in the air.  
  
"You're crazy, Jack," William had said.  
  
Jack just smirked, waiting for William to continue.  
  
"Crazy, Jack," William repeated. "And I'm proud of you."  
  
The next day, there was a mutiny. And that conversation out on deck in the fading rain was the last one Jack ever had with William.  
  
It had hit him hard and fast, when he'd learned of William Turner's fate. He'd been looking for any information about his stolen Pearl, and he'd been told of the curse, which he wasn't sure he believed. He'd braved to ask about William, and he'd gotten the response he'd feared. He asked around in hope that it was just a rumor, but everyone told him the same thing.  
  
After that he'd pretty much drunken himself into oblivion, barely waking for two days. Then finally he'd snapped out of it and sworn to reclaim his ship, his love, and get his revenge on his mutinous first-mate.  
  
Jack's last conversation with William replayed itself over and over in his head as he lay on deck. And he could smell the rain mixing with the sea as it had that day near ten years ago, and he could feel the wet, slippery deck beneath him, the same as it had been then, and clear as day, he could hear William's voice.  
  
"What in bloody hell are you doing out here?"  
  
Jack's only response to the voice in his memories was another chorus to the tune of the raindrops splattering on deck. Countless individuals had called Jack Sparrow crazy throughout his life. He relished their comments because they had the power to make him a legend.  
  
"You're crazy, Jack."  
  
William Turner's voice was alive on the Black Pearl that night. (Well, she had spent ten years as a ghost ship, so anything was possible, right?)  
  
The Pearl rocked, the rain came down. Captain Jack Sparrow danced an odd sort of dance to a tune that only he could hear. The past and present were tied together by the Black Pearl tossing in the waves as the raindrops landed on her decks.  
  
"And I'm proud of you."  
  
-------------  
  
A/N: That's it!!! Shadows is finished!!! We've got a long author's note coming up...  
  
Thank you so incredibly much to all the reviewers, I love you!!! Without you this story would really not have been written, you inspire me! Manymanymany thanks for all your ideas and suggestions, and all your praise & encouragement! Group hug!!! =) hehe.  
  
I'm actually kind of sad that Shadows is finished. :\ Sigh. I enjoyed writing it a whole lot. But never fear!! dun-da-da-dun! I have another multi-chapter fic in mind. I think I am going to try to pull off a Jack/OC story, & one that hasn't been done before (hopefully!), or just a story involving an OC without romantic 'ties'. :p Wish me luck :) Anyway, that should be getting started soon... :)  
  
Thank you again, all who read & all who reviewed, you don't know how much I appreciate it. *blows kisses & hands out more cake* =)  
  
...one last time, eh? *nudge toward review button* xD 


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